Things you need in your hangar.
Several people that I know have recently become aircraft owners after renting for years. I have a list of things you need if you are going to work on planes but I never put together a list of things you should have in your hangar for keeping your plane clean and flying. So here it is.
Hardware store
Gojo – without pumice for cleaning your hands and the belly of the plane.
Fluid Film – For loosening bolts
Tri-Flow – Lube the yoke, ailerons, and flaps
Brake Cleaner – If you help with maintenance, this makes spark plug cleaning much easier.
Dollar Store
Scotch brite – for cleaning up the prop and general cleaning
Tool box – for the tools. If you plan to work on the plane, I recommend getting an electricians bag so the tools are easier to find.
Pliers
Screw Drivers
Picks
Magnet on a stick
Razor knife
Scissors
Mirror on a stick
Toothbrushes – or save your old ones. You would be surprised how handy they are for getting grease and dirt out of the inside of your plane.
Zip ties – you can never have too many zip ties
Dollar store Pledge – I clean the bugs off every time I fly to preserve the paint and because they are easier to get off when fresh.
Gloves – I cut easily so I always wear work gloves when moving things around.
Bandaids – because there are lots of sharp edges on planes
Baby wipes or wet wipes.
Harbor Freight
Pick Set – it is so much easier to put screws in if you line up the holes first
Flashlight – the used to give these away, but now the are a couple of dollars. You would be surprised how much easier it is to work on the interior and engine when you can see what you are doing.
Box of nitrile gloves – you’d be surprised how much grease and dirt there is around airplanes.
Work gloves – I wear XXL and they don’t have my size at the Dollar store but they do here.
Michaels or Amazon
Bead boxes – to store screws, nuts, and bolts. I use them for keeping track of screws when doing the annual. One for each wing, one for the interior of Pipers (two for Cessnas), one for the tail, and one for the prop and engine. Sometimes you can find these at Dollar Tree.
Tire Inflator – These are cheap. Buy one with whichever battery powered tool system you are using. They have a fairly accurate gauge on them.