So you are heading to AirVenture, or Sun-N-Fun, or really any of the fly-in airshows this year and you want to try out plane camping.

It looks like fun, but perhaps a bit daunting. It’s actually easy. Figure out a few basic details and the rest should fall into place. First lets cover the basics about the plane you’re taking. As a pilot you need to calculate how much stuff you can bring. It’s probably time to dust off your weight and balance documentation and figure out your leftover gross weight after accounting for fuel, you, and your passengers(s). Once this is done, you have an idea of the max weight of what you can bring. We have about 250 pounds of useful load after accounting for two big guys and full fuel. That’s a lot of camping gear and in a Mooney we usually run out of space before we run out of load.

First lets cover the easy stuff; If you’re flying into an airshow there will be plenty of food, water, and ice for sale so there’s little need to carry that with you. You can focus your payload on just your gear. If you’re flying a high wing plane, minimalists will tell you to simply bring a tarp and run it over one of your wings. Stake it down and you have a large, lightweight shelter. While this is certainly true, we recommend a traditional tent. They shed rain better, and will protect you from the bugs. Plus with a Mooney that’s really not an option for us anyway. Plan on a four person tent as they really only

handle two people and gear unless you’re spooning. That may work with your significant other but for this trip a little space is probably good. If you want room to spread out, take the person rating of the tent and cut it in half.

You can pick up a decent tent cheaply at any thrift store or spend hundreds on one. There’s really no hard and fast rules here. These aren’t being used for a true trail outing, so any backyard class tent will work.

The FlyteGuide team is looking at this one for AirVenture this year. It’s big enough for the two of us that are going as well as all of our gear and it has an overhang that will keep our gear dry and offer some shade.

But the best tent is the one you already own, so if you have one already go with that. You should also consider a tent footprint if you think you may be parking your plane somewhere muddy.

Now that you have a tent, lets look at the other gear you’ll need.

First you’ll need something to sleep on. Bring a decent air mattress. You’re not looking for a high adventure backpacking trip, so the extra pound or two of weight of a good twin size air mattress is totally worth it. Make sure you try inflating it before you go. You’ll want to make sure that you don’t have any leaks or issues. Next, sitting on top of the air mattress, you’ll want a sleeping bag. If you have one already, then your set, if not, buy a rectangular bag with a summer weight rating. You aren’t winter camping, so anything rated to 40 degrees should be fine. The rectangular bags offer more room to turn in your sleep and aren’t quite so claustrophobic.

Finally, bring a pillow. Some guys can sleep on a rolled up sweatshirt or towel, you can call us weak, but we always bring a real pillow. The extra few pounds of the pillow wont push you over gross takeoff weight and the good night sleep every night will make the trip that much better.

Once you have your sleeping arrangements covered you’ll need a good place to sit and watch the show, either from your campsite or at the show itself. Plan on bringing a couple of folding camp chairs. Look for one that is a little lighter in weight and comes with a carrying sleeve. These can usually be found for $10 ~$20 at Walmart or Target if you don’t have one already. We typically bring at least one extra so that if anyone stops by we have an extra place for someone to sit and help us consume an adult beverage or two.

After your campsite is covered, here are a few more things you may want to consider. click on the links for an example of what we bring. (note: These links go to Amazon via our affiliate link. They help support our site, but you can get these anywhere and we buy these products on our own anyway)

• Headlamp / Flashlight – bring something small and perhaps rechargeable.
• backpack / day pack – something small and light that you can use to carry a bottle of water and your cell phone.
• Camping Hat – Something with a brim that can keep the sun off of your face and neck
• sunscreen / bug spray  – bring lots of both
• Rain Jacket / rain poncho (4 pack) – you can get cheap, disposable ponchos for 97 cents at Walmart. Bring several.
• Travel Towels – Bring a couple of these if you are staying for the week. Just hang them on the prop to air dry.
• shower bag
  – There is exactly one hook in the shower stalls, so bring your clean clothes to the shower in a small bag to keep them dry and accessible.
• Shower soap / Shampoo / toiletries –  Small bottles of what ever you use at home is good here too
• kitchen trash bags / green garbage bags – A couple of kitchen trash bags make packing up dirty gear on the way home easier and a few green garbage bags will make cleanup of any trash at your tent site easy. Plus they take up no weight or space in the plane and might help keep the plane from smelling the whole way home.
• plastic cutting boards – Use these to put under your wheels to keep you from sinking into the grass. They’re cheap and disposable and will make your departure that much easier.
• Power Strip – find a $6 strip and make some friends if you need it to recharge something at the lone free plug.
• roll of paper towels – You probably have this in the airplane anyway
• duct tape – a small roll of duct tape can fix anything. Also something that’s probably in your plane.
• Waterproof Camera – We have found that a small, dedicated camera with a decent memory card can go a lot farther than a cell phone camera. You can usually make it a full week on one charge.

Now that you’ve got the basics, you can read up on some specific ideas and tips we have for everything from shoes to solar power for your gadgets while at a Fly-in.

Stay Powered up at AirVenture
You’ll need good shoes….

When you’re done packing, grab a bathroom scale and weigh everything either before you leave the house or as your’re loading the plane. This way you have an accurate weight and no worries about going over gross