3 year old in a 172

BrianNC

BrianNC

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I have a friend who has never flown and wants me to take him up. But he has a three-year-old daughter that loves planes and is wondering if he can take her. First of all, do you recommend a three-year-old in the backseat of 172? And if so how do you elevate her where she can see? Do you put her in a car seat, etc.?
 
my rule is no kids that need a parent to do things for them, like seatbelts, etc... but that's just me. plenty of people who take their kids who can chime in.
 
I took my son (3-5 while I had the plane) pretty often. I used a car seat. When it was him and me, I put him in the right seat, slid back to prevent control issues. If the whole family was on board, he went in the back with the wife or daughter, and the other rode right seat.
When he got old enough to reach the yoke with his feet, he also understood that he had to keep his legs down instead of straight out.

As you can see, his favorite occupation on the way home from grandma and grandpa’s was sleep...
 

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They can't see jack from the back seat even in a booster/car seat. Put the kid up front in a booster where you can deal with any issues, and use the shoulder belt if needed. Scooch the seat back all the way so the kiddo can't grab anything and enjoy the ride. I took my youngest up last month (she's 3) she laughed loudly the whole time.
 
Small planes put kids to sleep.

Car seat and hearing protection. You don't need anything specialized. I went to wal-mart and bought $10 headsets meant for firing range protection. They are made for kids and fit perfectly.
 
I forgot to mention-
Try to find a car seat with a wide headrest. In my pic you can see that his headset would get pushed off his head by the bolsters (not just because he’s sleeping).
We had a second one that worked much better.
 
My kids love it. 6/8 when started. Youngest I’ve had was 4. I have ANR headsets for their games that helps them relax in the beginning or just to pass time. The 4yo falls asleep in 20 min and his parents say he never falls asleep
 
eman1200 said:
my rule is no kids that need a parent to do things for them, like seatbelts, etc... but that's just me. plenty of people who take their kids who can chime in.
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I’m ok with a short flight with parent in the back with them to watch over them closely.
 
Why wait for three? :) But yeah, full car seat works well and they make kid sized hearing protection. At three, though, you may want a real kid-friendly headset. Cheap at around $100. Wear it yourself for a moment to get the volume levels right. Learn how to isolate the intercom! You may need to lock them out from distracting you and also may need to lock them off from ATC if it's disturbing them. As well, I always fly with another responsible adult unless it's my kid.

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Your approach depends on the kid. For my kid, I give him a lot of info in advance. Took him to the hangar in a day we weren’t going to fly so he could get used to being around the plane, I could explain the expected behavior, what’s safe, etc. worked great, and in the day if the flight he could enjoy the experience and I didn’t have to spend any time corralling him.

I used a car booster seat for him and it worked great. The key is that they need to be sitting high enough for the shoulder strap to go across their chest.


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My 4 year old son was my first passenger. Flew with my daughter when she was about 18 months.

Three year olds could care less about airplanes, no matter what the dad would like to believe. As far as they can tell, it’s just a big noisy car. Use a car seat in the back and a youth headset. You’re likely to have trouble getting the kid to leave the headset on.

The only thing I did any different when flying with my kids was to have a seatbelt cutter as part of my emergency equipment - my idea was I may have to cut them out of the car seat in a hurry. Kept the cutter under the pilot seat.
 
As long as there's a parent onboard to manage the kid so I don't have to I'm ok with it. I've flown a few, just on short little fly around the immediate area and show you your house kind of things. I did fly a friend's daughter- I think she was around 3 for a lunch flight once. We gave her a headset and she figured out she could hear herself on the intercom and began singing/babbling nearly constantly. First time I ever used the "isolate" switch.



arnoha said:
Why wait for three? :) But yeah, full car seat works well and they make kid sized hearing protection. At three, though, you may want a real kid-friendly headset. Cheap at around $100. Wear it yourself for a moment to get the volume levels right. Learn how to isolate the intercom! You may need to lock them out from distracting you and also may need to lock them off from ATC if it's disturbing them. As well, I always fly with another responsible adult unless it's my kid.

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I may need a baby hearing protection apparatus soon, where did you get that?
 
For my 3 and 7, I do carseats and boosters in the back seat. I let them out at cruise. They can stand, wiggle, and look out the window. Mine never fall asleep (30-90 minute hops).
 
cowman said:
I may need a baby hearing protection apparatus soon, where did you get that?
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Baby Banz. I think it was designed for bringing kids to things like race tracks, but works great for this. There was another style we tried that used an elastic band to hold them on (EMS for bubs) that didn't work...baby wouldn't abide it at all.

The baby banz are popular and fairly inexpensive at less than $20. Available from the usual places...Amazon, Target, etc. There are also Chinese knockoffs if you want something closer to $5, but I haven't any experience with the quality. The Baby Banz take a fair beating and keep going, though one thing to watch is that they will eventually snap in the headband if they are extensively overflexed. Babies and toddlers will do that trying to pry it off their heads if you're not watching.
 
BrianNC said:
I have a friend who has never flown and wants me to take him up. But he has a three-year-old daughter that loves planes and is wondering if he can take her. First of all, do you recommend a three-year-old in the backseat of 172? And if so how do you elevate her where she can see? Do you put her in a car seat, etc.?
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I have taken my now 4 year old flying a bunch when he was 3. First time in a Cherokee 180, and after that in a debonair. Just took his car seat out of my car and belted it in with the back seat belt. Gave him a child size headset, and we were off to the races.. One word of caution.. the first time i flew with him, he had a BLAST.. thought a little light chop was a lot of fun.. The last time i flew with him, he was on the back end of a cold totally fine at home, just a little cough and congestion.. couldn't clear his ears, gum and water did nothing to help, so it was a miserable 2 hour flight with him crying most of the time..
 
I was 6 months old when I had my first airplane ride, round engine Ryan SCW in 1962. Dad owned it for a few years after I was born and I rode in it quite a bit. Later we had a C180 and I flew in it allot. Been flying ever since and did not start wearing headsets until 2003. I hear better than my wife who has not been around airplanes anywhere near as much.

Don't over think things too much.
 
BrianNC said:
I have a friend who has never flown and wants me to take him up. But he has a three-year-old daughter that loves planes and is wondering if he can take her. First of all, do you recommend a three-year-old in the backseat of 172? And if so how do you elevate her where she can see? Do you put her in a car seat, etc.?
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Heck yes! Car seat in the back seat should work fine. I would recommend Dad sits back there with her the first time. Be sure to brief what to do in an emergency - Probably best to have dad in the right rear and daughter in the left rear so he can grab her and go out the right door while you go out the left door (assuming they're both workable) in an emergency.

eman1200 said:
my rule is no kids that need a parent to do things for them, like seatbelts, etc... but that's just me. plenty of people who take their kids who can chime in.
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I just have my wife sit with my son, as described above so the car seat doesn't get between any of the adults and the door.

Mr.T said:
Three year olds could care less about airplanes, no matter what the dad would like to believe. As far as they can tell, it’s just a big noisy car.
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No way - My kid is a complete airplane freak. Just had him at the airport today to watch planes ("Airpane!") and a helicopter ("Ata!" is his word for those). Those two, plus "Runway" and "Mooney", were among his first few dozen words. We had him on five out-of-state trips in the Mooney before his first birthday, and more since (he's 20 months now).

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Oh, and when I'm reading him books, I always let him choose the books. His favorites? "Planes" (the Little Golden Books version of the Disney movie), Goodnight Planes, That's Not My Plane, one that has all the sounds of different aircraft (the helicopter in that one goes "Pitatatatatatata Pitatatatatatata" which is where he got "Ata" from), and even my AOPA Pilot and Sport Aviation magazines, which we'll just flip pages and look at airplanes.

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Use a car seat in the back and a youth headset. You’re likely to have trouble getting the kid to leave the headset on.
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cowman said:
I may need a baby hearing protection apparatus soon, where did you get that?
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From his first flight at about 3 months until age 1, we had one of these that he kept on just fine: https://www.amazon.com/Bubs-Baby-Ea...37&sr=8-16&keywords=em's+4+bubs+baby+earmuffs

From 1 year to now (almost 21 months), we've used one of these, but he has definitely started playing the take-it-off game: https://www.amazon.com/Ems-Kids-Ear...F8&qid=1538186972&sr=8-5&keywords=em's+4+kids

We're going to be switching him over to a regular headset going forward. Sigtronics makes a passive kid headseat, but the Mooney is loud and I'd like him to have ANR, so we'll probably just put some Lightspeeds on him with extra padding under the headband if necessary. I think being able to hear us and himself will help a lot to get him to keep them on better, but I'll definitely be using the isolate switch too. ;)
 
sferguson524 said:
I have taken my now 4 year old flying a bunch when he was 3. First time in a Cherokee 180, and after that in a debonair. Just took his car seat out of my car and belted it in with the back seat belt. Gave him a child size headset, and we were off to the races.. One word of caution.. the first time i flew with him, he had a BLAST.. thought a little light chop was a lot of fun.. The last time i flew with him, he was on the back end of a cold totally fine at home, just a little cough and congestion.. couldn't clear his ears, gum and water did nothing to help, so it was a miserable 2 hour flight with him crying most of the time..
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Yes! Forgot to mention this. Adults (including pilots) can have trouble with ear blocks during and after a cold or sinus infection. Kids are much more likely to have been sick recently, AND they don't know how to clear their ears yet. Be sure to keep your descents to 500 fpm, and ideally give them something to drink, suck on, chew on, etc. to assist and don't go very high. When I fly IFR with my son, I do put something in the remarks about a small child being on board and that we won't be able to do expedited descents.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yes! Forgot to mention this. Adults (including pilots) can have trouble with ear blocks during and after a cold or sinus infection. Kids are much more likely to have been sick recently, AND they don't know how to clear their ears yet. Be sure to keep your descents to 500 fpm, and ideally give them something to drink, suck on, chew on, etc. to assist and don't go very high. When I fly IFR with my son, I do put something in the remarks about a small child being on board and that we won't be able to do expedited descents.
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This was part of the problem. was flying IFR from VGT to RAL. ATC kept us high and slam dunked us into RAL. My son was already unhappy with the flight, and this put him over the edge. Did the whole approach into RAL with him kicking my seat and yelling his head off (thank god for ISO). Remembered to "fly the plane", and felt like the worlds worst dad after I landed. Such is life tho I suppose
 
sferguson524 said:
This was part of the problem. was flying IFR from VGT to RAL. ATC kept us high and slam dunked us into RAL. My son was already unhappy with the flight, and this put him over the edge. Did the whole approach into RAL with him kicking my seat and yelling his head off (thank god for ISO). Remembered to "fly the plane", and felt like the worlds worst dad after I landed. Such is life tho I suppose
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On his first trip, we were IFR down to Kansas City, and they had an approach controller that just nailed it perfectly - She would have us descend a thousand feet, level off for a few minutes, descend another thousand, etc... I was really happy about that, and it worked great! (He was 3 months old at the time.)

sferguson524 said:
Your son is SUPER cute Kent!
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Thanks! :) I think he gets it from my beautiful bride. ;)
 
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