October 2005 - American Bonanza Society

LET'S GET ORGANIZEDBY AL BANEN, FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONAA lot has been wriHen about cockpit organization and resourcemanagement, and yet as I travel around the country I amamazed at how few of us toke time to organize our environment.I have always been a stickler for organization, and I try to bringthat with me to your learning sessions at BPPP. Here are a fewthings you could make yourself to ease cockpit clutter and minimizeerrors and confusion.LapboardA lapboard is useful for storing all the charts for yourflight as well as your writing instruments, plotters and anythingelse you use on a regular basis. The top of the board isalso useful for taking notes and viewing en route charts.I started witha standard aluminumclipboardbox from an officesupply store and acan of spray-onrubber in the toolsupply departmentof Home Depot.This product is normally used on the handles of smallhand tools and comes in the form of a dip or a spray. I paintedthe bottom and sides with about 15 coats, using the emire can.This buildup gives the board a nice soft feel and keeps it fromsliding around.I also purchased a piece of III 6th-inch Lexan and a shortlength of half-inch piano hinge. If you don't have access to atable saw, ask the Home Depot people to cut it to the same sizeas the top of the board. Using pop rivets, affix the piano hingeto both the box and the Lexan sheet so it is flush on all sides.The clipboard lid is hinged along the long side and you wantthe hinge to be away from you as it lies on your lap so that youcan open it easily to retrieve items inside. The Lexan sheetshould be hinged on the right and will serve to hold the activechart in position.I placed a piece of Velcro in a convenient place on the sideof the box and put the other side of the Velcro on a black weterasable marker. A dry marker also works well. This makes agreat writing instrument for marking the top of the lapboard.I then typed up a blank form for recording ATIS and copyingclearances and affixed it to the face of the lid. On the backsideof the lid, I placed a type-specific passenger briefing form.As you can see from the photo below, I can now store allHinged Lexansheet on lop 01Renee chartholder.