First flight in 2 months

[iWantWings]

Since I started flight training last year and after getting my certificate I did not have such a long span of no flights: two months.

My "proficency level" must have decayed somewhat, i was thinking. So today I left work earlier than usual, told my wife I'll go get high and that I'll be late a little.

I made it to the local airport just 5 minutes before the fbo would close; hardly anyone was flying. Reported winds were 13 gusting to 21, but it felt calmer than that. Took my time with the preflight, got everything done and checked by the book when... i see Noah's Ark: my wife's suv with a bunch of kids - all mine

My daughter and son were all over me yelling that they wanted to fly with me. Great, talk about peer pressure. And I caved in. Got them both strapped in and the loser ended up with the cheap rental headset. It sucked.

AWOS indicated now 13 Kts from 290, runway 25. I told the kids itwould be alittle bumpy, they didn't care (my daughter anyways, 'cuz my 2year old hasno clue).

The 4 takoff and landings went very well. I was happy, got to do different approaches, bank in the wind, rudder for center line and I got my daughter's approval of "that was better". Hmmmmm, what is she, my CFI?

To sum up the brief flight around the pattern, after we shut down, my two year old wouldn't stop with his "Mo, mo, moooh!" so i guess it was a good flight 'cuz he wanted more .

 

[MAKG1]

Yeah, when I put my son in the right seat for my first post-checkride cross-country, the first landing was a bit firm. Still held the nosegear up, and no hint of sideload despite an 8 knot crosswind. But my son reported a "hard" landing to Mom. Everyone's a critic....

 

[marcoseddi]

That sounds really awesome glad you had safe and fun flight!!

 

[iWantWings]

Yeah, when I put my son in the right seat for my first post-checkride cross-country, the first landing was a bit firm. Still held the nosegear up, and no hint of sideload despite an 8 knot crosswind. But my son reported a "hard" landing to Mom. Everyone's a critic....

That's funny. Was that your son's first flight in a "small plane", or did he get to fly in one prior to the cross-country flight? That part that I find entertaining is that you, as pilot, do a number of things right to handle crosswind, sideload, etc., and you do it right, yet a small "thump!" in the end is what the young passengers judges you by.

Next time give him the controls, sit back and watch Just kidding!

 

[iWantWings]

That sounds really awesome glad you had safe and fun flight!!

The great thing is how the kids enjoyed the flight from well before it actually started (although, by defintion, I think the start of a flight begins at the moment the prop is started?? - I should know that!).

Anyhow, the kids were excited from the moment they heard they might get to fly - that was already the "start" of their flight.

Then, the preflight is fun too - in fact, too much. Had to pry the 2 year old from the landing gear; he just hugged it and would not let go. In fact, the hardest part was keeping him at bay while I was fininshing the pre-flight (which I had started before kids and mom showed up). I seriously do not need distractions at that point.

Finally, I had the 2 year old strapped in with booster seat, belts and more belts... My older daughter got front seat and she knows her stuff.

Then there was the battle of who gets which headset. I ended up with the rental, my daugther got the Bose and my son didn't complain with "his" DC.

They get even more excited when the prop turns over at the start... then there's a flood of "can you hear me, can you hear me??" when they know I turned the radio on....

All in all, I realize this is fun for them and do not want to spoil it too much, but this is not a time to be baby-sitting , so it does take some practice and discipline - both on the pilot and the young passenger.

But yes, when it ends well and all goes according to plan, it's great. All they talked bout was the "next time".

I have 2 more passengers that I want to take along: my wife and youngest of them all, the 9 month old .... so maybe I need to step up to a twin