Now that you have a plane, it’s natural to start nesting. There are a few things you’ll want to buy right off the bat (just make sure to ask the seller what’s included):

• A cover from Bruce’s. These are pricy, but worth it. They protect your plane from light rain, keep the inside cool, and block the UV rays that damage interiors and avionics over time.
• A tow bar, if your plane doesn’t include one
• Sun shields. Say you’re just popping over somewhere for a $100 burger. Putting the cover on for a 2 hour stop is a hassle, but you also don’t want to roast when you get back in the plane.
• Tiedown straps. Much easier than rope or chain. Even if you hangar your plane, they’re useful to have when you’re traveling.
• Chocks. Useful for traveling and extra peace of mind. Spring for the N-number customization; chocks wander off otherwise.
• Laminator. Sounds silly, but you’ll use it a lot. Registrations, certificates SFRA course documents, customs forms, checklists, and references…after a few months the plane will be full of important papers you want to keep pristine. I have this 9” Swingline model, and it works great.
• Document organizer: Your plane will be full of records and supplements that need to be in the plane but are rarely used. Get a mini filing cabinet or accordion file to hold them. You’ll always know where to find things, the cabin will look much tidier, and you’ll avoid instant chaos if a window or door opens in flight.
• Scanner. Nothing in the FAA regs says logbooks need to be kept on physical paper. Your plane probably came with masses of logbooks. If anything even happens to them, a large portion of your plane’s value vanishes…unless you have electronic copies.
• Skymall magazine. Throw one in the back seat pockets; it’s good for a laugh the first time a passenger sees it. Now that Skymall is dead, you’ll need to visit eBay to find one.
• Fuel strainer, if your plane doesn’t have one.
• Small ladder that fits in the baggage compartment. Take it with you everywhere. You’ll only give up a few pounds of payload, and you’ll never have to worry about how you’re going to reach the fuel tanks when you’re away from home.
• Baggage compartment bin. You’ll eventually have fuel strainers, miscellaneous tools, some quarts of oil, and so on floating around the baggage compartment. You don’t want those freely flowing. It’s harder to find things, and if the door opens in flight you could rain equipment on the land dwellers. Put everything in a nice bin. Tidy and safer.
• GPS subscription. You’ll need to buy a subscription (probably from Jeppesen) to get updated data files each month. Without regular updates, your GPS unit will enter a dangerous area where it is tempting to use in flight, but is out of date enough it’s dangerously misleading.
• Passenger headsets. Most FBOs throw in some headsets when you rent a plane, but you don’t get that luxury once you own. You don’t want to take passengers without headsets; they will be unhappy. Even a used Faro headset with passive noise reduction will be enough.