Gifts for Pilots: What Gets Used and What Ends Up in a Drawer

Pilots are hard to shop for, because they bought the headset, the kneeboard and the sunglasses long ago, to their own taste and usually after a lot of comparing. If you don't fly yourself, the pilot mug with a joke on it starts to look tempting. You can do better without knowing what a METAR is.

The METARMAP as a gift

We'll start with our own product and get that out of the way. The METARMAP is a printed aviation chart with LEDs, built in Leipzig. Each airfield has an LED that glows in the colour of the weather currently reported there, using the GAFOR scheme that pilots in Germany know from flight planning. The map fetches new data every five minutes on its own.

Few people would buy one for themselves. They still use it every day, since one look in the morning shows whether the drive to the airfield is worth it. In the evening it's a nice lamp on the shelf.

For a gift, the METARMAP Mini is usually the better pick. It sits on a desk or sideboard, so you don't need to know which wall is free. The large A1 METARMAP makes sense once you know where it will hang, or when a whole flying club is the recipient.

What the map needs

Power and Wi-Fi. It's set up once in the browser through METARMAP Connect, and there is no app. On a computer that works with Chrome, Edge or Opera, and on Android with Chrome. Safari can't use the Bluetooth interface it needs, so on an iPhone you use the Bluefy browser instead. The list of supported browsers has the details.

More gift ideas for pilots

Not every gift has to light up.

Small things

• A remove-before-flight tag costs little, and any pilot recognises one at once. On an aircraft these red streamers hang from the pitot tube and the control lock.
• DFS, Germany's air navigation service, publishes a new ICAO chart every year. Plenty of pilots still carry a paper chart as a backup to their app, and then the current edition belongs on board.
• Saint-Exupéry's "Wind, Sand and Stars" is a classic of flying literature. It reads well even for people who rarely pick up a book.

For everyday flying

• A kneeboard straps to the thigh and holds the chart, checklist and notes. Ask first whether they fly with a tablet, because then it has to fit their iPad.
• A good flight bag takes the headset, charts and water. Look for one with a padded headset compartment.
• A nice logbook is only worth it if they still log on paper. Many switched to an electronic one years ago.

Experiences

• An hour in an airliner simulator appeals to private pilots in particular. They get to fly an aircraft they would never otherwise get near.
• A guest flight in a different kind of aircraft changes the view: the powered pilot in a glider, the glider pilot in a gyroplane.
• A tailwheel conversion or a taster aerobatics lesson teaches something they can go on to fly themselves. Ask their flight school or club about vouchers.

Better to ask first

Headsets are a matter of taste. Fit, weight and noise cancelling are things people want to try for themselves, and the plug has to match the aircraft. At those prices, don't guess.

Polarised sunglasses are a poor fit for the cockpit. Some displays become hard to read through them, and they show stress patterns in the windscreen. If it has to be sunglasses, pick a pair without polarisation.

Order in good time

Every METARMAP is assembled and tested after you order it, and it usually reaches you within 4 to 7 business days, sometimes a little later in the run-up to Christmas. The shipping page has the details.

If the map doesn't suit them, you can return it unused and in its original packaging within 30 days. That period starts on delivery, not on the day you hand it over, which matters if you order in October. The revocation policy explains the rest.

Frequently asked questions