Scott Leather
"Square Top"
Flight Case Review
Time to retire an old friend
I bought my first flight bag from Sporty's in 1987, shortly after I started flying. It had been my faithful companion on nearly every flight and every nervous FAA checkride day. It was rained and snowed on, slammed around behind the seats, kicked by rear seat passengers, and had even acted as an impromptu seat for the girlfriend one cold night while we waited for a taxi at an airport. The leather was scratched (in some cases gouged!) and the seams pulled and torn. It looked every bit of 15 years old. No surprise, however, as with everything else in life, nothing lasts forever (including the girlfriend if you must pry) so a few weeks ago I began my search for a replacement (flight bag, that is). :-)
Now, you might be saying to yourself, "Big Deal. What's so special about a flight case? Why would I need to drop several hundred dollars on a fancy leather case when I bought a duffle bag at the local sporting goods place for $10 (or) I bought one of those 'Flight Gear' nylon bags that hold a ton of stuff and it won't get scratched and look like crap in two microseconds".
Okay, just because you asked, here's my philosophy on flight bags...I suppose I've gravitated toward flight cases for two reasons:
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Organization: For the same reason I prefer putting my hand tools in a pouch-lined case, I like the fact that everything has its specific place in my flight bag. If something is missing, it's quite obvious. I can't tell you how many of my friends have left charts, foggles, or what-have-you behind in a rental airplane, never to be seen again. Do that a few times and the $$ begin to add up.
- Professionalism: When I bought my original flight case I was on a career path to the airlines, and felt I had to look like a professional pilot to become one. While I'm no longer a career pilot, I am a part-time CFI, and still feel obligated to set a professional standard. I can put it this way: what would you think if your attorney came to court with a back pack thrown over his shoulder? The back-pack gets the job done just as well as a nice leather briefcase with slots for organizing paper and writing implements, but it just says something about the person's attitude. "Dress sloppy, Act sloppy", as my father used to say.
A flight case has another advantage over the duffle-bag approach following 9/11 that I've encountered first-hand. Just try getting past a airport security checkpoint inside of a month's time with that Flight Gear bag and all of its two-dozen little nooks and crannies. Since there's nowhere to hide anything in a simple rectangular box, I can get my flight case through security that much faster.
Which bag to buy?
Once I began my search for a replacement flight case, it didn't take long to figure out that my options were limited. Sporty's offered a few flight bags similar to my original, including one with wheels and extensible handle. Since I tend to cram a lot of stuff in my flight bag and am sometimes forced to walk long distances with it, the notion of wheels appealed to me...until I realized that the recess in the case required to support the handle took up a good amount of the case's interior volume. Since my intention was to increase - not decrease - case volume, that was out. And, with a price of $375, it was probably just as well.
I then glanced down the page and saw the Scott Leather bags. I had heard good things about them even back when I bought my original bag, but at that time the Scott bags were almost double the price of the "standard" no-name-brand bags, and from what I could tell from the tiny picture in the catalog, there was little difference between the two lines.
This time around, however, I noticed that the Scott bag I wanted, the so-called "Square Top", listed at $375 in Sportys. Since I realized long ago Sporty's marks up everything they resell, I figured I'd try to go direct to Scott and see what kind of deal I could get.
The Scott Leather website showed the same prices as Sporty's, but indicated to call regarding "Airline Pricing". While I thought I wouldn't qualify for the Airline discount, I did have a few questions about the options on the bag as well as the general design, so I figured I'd give them a call one Monday morning. A friendly and knowledgeable Dianna Taylor answered the phone and quickly answered all of my questions.
Dianna then asked if I was an airline pilot. I told her that I wasn't, but offered that I was a CFI. She then told me that she would give me the discount anyway. This put the Square Top case at $275, a full $100 below the Sporty's / Scott Leather website price. As I had prepared myself to purchase the case at the higher price, you can imagine how pleased I was to received the discount.
Although initially quoted a 5-7 day delivery time with ground shipping due to a lack of inventory, to my pleasant surprise, Dianna called me back late the same day to let me know that they had just completed my bag and could ship it via UPS Ground as previously agreed at the original shipping price of $15 or add $10 to ship 3-day select to ensure it would arrive before the weekend. The extra $10 was a no-brainer. It arrived on Friday.
As I removed the bag from the box and its protective plastic I was immediately impressed by the quality and thickness of the leather that formed the "box". I also noticed that the seams made between the side pieces and the single-piece leather that forms the long axis of the bag were stitched with heavy thread and then rounded (presumably with some kind of sander) and sealed. The overall quality in craftsmanship was obvious. It made my old flight bag look like a bad joke.
As well-crafted as the Scott bag obviously was, believe it or not, the biggest selling points for me were the combination locks (for security during airline travel) and the 3" side flap extensions that, when folded inward prior to closing the case flaps, prevent small / thin / loose items from escaping between the gap that can form between the case flaps and the side panels. Of course, you don't see this gap on flight cases when they're new and "tight", but after 15 years of service my original case had developed enough "play" in the top where it was possible to reach my fingers inside the case with the top closed and pull out a chart!
For $35 (discount pricing), I added the leather pouch you see on the inside of the "large" case flap. This is attached by two 2" wide strips of Velcro.
Why Velcro, you ask? The reason for the is simple -- it allows you to reposition the pouch to place the zipper in the location of your personal preference. The position of the zipper was, in fact, one of the questions I asked Dianna when I called and she told me that they used to stitch them in but found pilots about equally divided in their preference for orientation of the zipper, so presumably in order to increase commonality in inventory and quicken the production process, they went to Velcro. Of course, Scott builds custom bags too, so I imagine you could ask them to stitch it in one way or another if you so desired. Personally, I like the Velcro idea, if for no other reason than I can take this pouch and its varied contents with me into the FBO to do flight planning or whatever.
Quality in the details
Quality is always to be found in the details. Notice how the handle on the Scott bag is padded. This is unlike my original bag handle, which would dig into my hand if I held it for any length of time.
Also notice the brass bushing used in the handle mounting hardware. While most bags rely merely upon a rigid loop of leather or perhaps a plastic insert, this small detail should preserve the integrity of the handle joint for a very long time..in fact, from the looks of it, I'd venture a guess that it will likely outlast the case itself.
You'll also notice that the smaller case flap does not interlock with the handle. From a security perspective, I'm not sure I prefer this over my original case design, but the other aspects of the bag, including the combination locks, more than make up for this small detail.
Unfortunately, I noticed a problem related to quality control: a couple of pulled stitches at the very top of the case on one corner where the large flap joined with the right-hand side of the case. I didn't think much about it at the time, but after a check of the Scott website and a phone call to Scott, I eventually confirmed that the pulled stitch was exposed because they had forgot to install reinforcing rivets at all four top corners.
Normally I'd be pretty miffed at something like this, but Dianna promised to reimburse me for shipping and return it as quickly as I'd sent it to her. Even when the shipping cost I paid to send the package back to her was far in excess of the amount she would normally be willing to pay, she still agreed to pay it and take the hit. In short, they made good on their oversight, and I really couldn't have hoped for better handling of the situation.
CFI Discount
During our conversation, we got to talking about the distinction between CFIs and Airline pilots, and the manner in which CFIs are "professional" pilots just like Airline Pilots and are probably more deserving of discounts (since we all know how "highly paid" CFIs are!). At that point I managed to negotiate a $50 CFI discount with them, and she authorized me to say that Scott Leather will extend this discount to all active CFIs. All you need to do is:
- Have your CFI certificate or CFI certificate number ready
- Call 1-800-432-3741 (do NOT use the website to order)
- Ask for Dianna and ask for the "CFI Discount".
If you're wondering why CFIs won't get the same $100 discount I was given...well, that's a long story, but it suffices to say that I wasn't supposed to receive the discount in the first place, and Dianna's mistake came back to haunt her when it turned out I had to return the case. Therefore, if you have an airline employee number, she can give you the full $100 discount, but CFIs are entitled to $50...which is better than nothing.
First Flight is "Intoxicating"
Before I had to ship it out, I managed to take it on a short hop during which I delivered our aircraft to our mechanic for its annual. For logistical reasons, my usual co-pilot sat in the back seat for the first leg of the flight and later noted that the smell of the new leather was quite intoxicating (and fortunately for all of us, he wasn't PIC at the time!) :-)
So, here it is, stocked and ready for flight. Note how I can fit three full size Jepp binders and my Bose X ANR headset case in this width case. And, for those of you new to my site, NO, that Crown Royal box doesn't contain any alcohol!..it's just a convenient way to store all of my little do-dads that I don't want rustling around the bottom of the flight case. My IFR binder nicely fits on top of the Jepp binders, even with the pouch full of stuff.
While I had hoped to be able to fit my backup headset bag in here as well, that just wouldn't work. No big deal, however, since I've always been forced to carry that separately anyway.
To wrap up the review, I can say that aside from the rivet issue, I'm happy with the product, and in particular, the manner in which Scott Leather supported me after the sale. When a problem came up, they remedied it to my satisfaction, and one really can't ask for much more than that.
Of course, the standard disclaimer applies...I don't know anyone who works at Scott Leather, I don't own any financial interest in the company, and they have not paid me for this review (though royalty checks would be appreciated!) :-)
Update 8.4.2004
A few weeks ago I pulled the case out of the trunk after a long day of flying and picked up a small brass rivet head from the floor of the trunk. I examined the bag and found that one of the four rivets on the top of the bag (the same four rivets that weren't installed originally), had broken. I was dismayed at this to say the least, because I knew full well what it meant -- the box had to go back to Scott for repair.
I called Scott the next day and Dianna answered the phone. I explained what had happened, and she apologized. Apparently this is a very rare occurrence. She suggested that the best thing to do would be to ship the case back to her and they'd repair it for free. I told her that I'd probably wind up doing that anyway, but asked if there was some way I could perform the repair on my own. She offered to let me speak with one of their craftsmen on the manufacturing floor to discuss how the rivets are installed. He suggested that while it wasn't impossible to fix it without the special compression tool they use in the shop, I might be able to back-rivet it with a hammer.
Unfortunately, to make a long story short, that didn't work, so rather than risk further damage to the case, I called Dianna to make arrangements to ship the case. She said that she'd send me a loaner case and a return label for my case. Since the loss of the rivet caused some of the stitching to loosen, I asked her to ask the craftsman to rework the stitching and put a second rivet on each corner, just so that the stitching wouldn't loosen again if another rivet failed before I was able to get it back to her. She agreed and I sent her the case.
Today (two weeks after I shipped it) I received the repaired case. I'm extremely pleased with the result. Not only did the craftsman replace the defective rivet, he installed the four additional rivets I asked for, redressed the edges of the case and repolished it. It looks brand new again...indeed better than new. I do believe that the rivet issue was a fluke. These cases are indeed hand crafted, and no one (or no rivet) is perfect.
I really can't say enough good things about Scott Leather at this point, because they supported me LONG after the sale. They incurred additional expenses to keep me happy, and that, my friends, is called customer service. I'm also happy that I was able to speak with the same person who took my order almost two years ago, and that I was allowed to speak with the guy on the floor that crafts the cases to answer my annoying, anal-retentive questions. A lot of so-called "customer-focused" companies simply don't allow that. The bottom line? If you're in the market for a flight case, you can't go wrong buying from Scott!