first flight with my 5yr old son

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coma24

Line Up and Wait
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coma24
I had the rather special honor of taking my son for his first GA flight this weekend. It turns out I picked the wrong day, it ended up being more bumpy than expected but it was still a good result. He understands the circumstance and is willing to give it one more try. I just had to give him 24 hours to get over the first flight :)

It's been a long road to this point. I have not pushed flying on either of my kids at all. I've waited for them to come to me...and now it's happening.

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdxkRatQ22o

Edit: the second flight went quite a bit better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAsni1IBJTw

A lot of his comments are cut off because I failed to set the squelch properly for his awful mic position and quieter voice. I'll get it right next time. I work it out at the end during the taxi and then after the engine is shut down. Most of this will mean more to me, obviously, than anyone else, but I'm so happy to have a record of this, especially at this level of quality.

We were watching the finished video with my wife and daughter last night. We get to 3:41 in the video where I'm cleaning up the gear, flaps, pulling back the prop and engaging the ram air. I then say, "outta here." (ie, we're on our way, the plane's cleaned up)

Completely serious, Trey says, "wait...where's the 'outta here' button?"

A few minutes later, he begins singing the praises of "Daddy's great radios" to his mother and sister, explaining how it's great that I can tell other planes that I'm turning RIGHT (he does this while turning an imaginary steering wheel hard LEFT), so that when I turn RIGHT (motions left), we won't bump into them.

Does it really get any better than this?
 
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If you haven't done so, get a booster seat. Helps with vertigo so they can see out better. I have my 4 year old calling out' "Flaps Down! Take Off! Flaps Up! "All the time...it's pretty cute. I verbalized my checklists and he is picking up on them pretty good.
 
Kids are awesome.

A couple weeks post PPL, I take Mrs 6PC and the kids up for the first time.
Do the run-up and everyone is pretty quiet.

I roll out onto the runway and my 4 year old daughter just says: "Hey daddy are you sure you know how to fly this?"

We took off and I think the very next comment was "This is boring. Can I have your iPad?" Hopefully one day they will have more interest.
 
"Does it really get any better than this?" No, I don't think so, and you're a wise man to appreciate it in the moment. My five-year-old looked up at the sky and told my wife on Saturday (my first lesson), "I miss that pilot up there." Out of the mouths of babes...

Congrats on your father-son adventure!
 
I took my 4-year-old son up for the first time this summer. I strapped him into a booster seat in the right seat of a 172. He grabbed the yoke on takeoff and didn't let go until we were on the downwind after the hour flight and I told him, "Hey buddy, you have to let daddy do the landing by himself, okay?"
 
Unit74 said:
If you haven't done so, get a booster seat. Helps with vertigo so they can see out better. I have my 4 year old calling out' "Flaps Down! Take Off! Flaps Up! "All the time...it's pretty cute. I verbalized my checklists and he is picking up on them pretty good.
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Awesome. Yes, I see him showing a lot of interest in the systems, especially the Outta Here button. I do have him in the only booster that still allows full deflection of the elevator. Next step is to add a few pillows to it to make it even higher.
 
Unit74 said:
If you haven't done so, get a booster seat. Helps with vertigo so they can see out better. I have my 4 year old calling out' "Flaps Down! Take Off! Flaps Up! "All the time...it's pretty cute. I verbalized my checklists and he is picking up on them pretty good.
Click to expand...

I never found a booster seat necessary. It helps nap time, but even in the back seat of a 172, I found my kid could see out just fine.

They are technically not legal in aircraft, but the reasoning is suspect. If you read the study the reg was based on, it's pretty clear they tested boosters that don't exist anymore, and only on airliner seats. See 14 CFR 91.107(a)(3). The labels that reg requires exist on some car seats, but not on any booster I've seen.

If vertigo is an issue, you need to center the ball. Not always easy for a new pilot.

The "outta here" button is the throttle. I thought we all knew that….
 
I started taking my daughter up at 4 years old. She was fine until a Sunday morning brunch run at a nearby airport. Her and my wife were in the back and I had my cousin up front with me. The trip over was a little bumpy, but they all seemed ok. We had brunch and headed back. By that time, the temp had come up and it was considerably more bumpy than the trip over. About half way back, I hear an "OH NOOOOO!" from the back. A second later, the smell made it up front. Worst part was that I was only half way home and had a pretty decent headwind. When I finally got back to the hangar, another club member was waiting with his family for their first flight. A quick word from me and he took them home.

Anyway, my daughter is now 7 and doesn't seem to suffer any ill effect from that incident. In fact, we went up yesterday for a late leaf flight and she sat in the back reading a book. Don't think she hardly looked up.

Congrats on getting your son up there. I'm sure one smooth ride in the future and all will be forgotten.
 
Hehe, I never had a passenger hork, but I did discover the joys of high altitude flight. 13000 feet over the Sierra. The smell was epic. Never have tacos for lunch before trying that.
 
coma24 said:
Awesome. Yes, I see him showing a lot of interest in the systems, especially the Outta Here button.
Click to expand...

Earlier this summer, I put my 7 yo daughter in the front seat for the first time. I explained some of the panel to her the best I could. On climb out, I told her we would be turning right when we hit 1900 msl. Because of a jet waiting to take off, I turned at 1700. She called me on it. "Daddy, you turned too early. You said when the big hand hit the nine."

I have to admit some pride in the fact that she could pick that up and was actually paying attention.
 
No, it doesn't get any better! :)

My oldest, now 7, has been flying since he was 11 weeks old, though not much in the last couple years (going to change soon). He loves airplanes, but I don't push it on him. I'm pretty sure he'll want to be a GA pilot when he is older. My younger son, now 5, hasn't flown as much, and seems generally more interested in trains and motorcycles, but he's much more mechanically-interested than his older brother, so I can see him enjoying working on planes when he is older.

The highest complement is when they sleep though the landing and don't wake up until I shut down the engine.
 
Unit74 said:
If you haven't done so, get a booster seat. Helps with vertigo so they can see out better. I have my 4 year old calling out' "Flaps Down! Take Off! Flaps Up! "All the time...it's pretty cute. I verbalized my checklists and he is picking up on them pretty good.
Click to expand...

Those are the two main items right there (booster and verbalize checklist). My son has flown with me quite a bit. After the first year, he began saying "check" like he was SIC. I asked him to point out the vacuum guage since he just indicated check - not only did he do it, he acknowledged pressure in the green:yikes:

I've verbalized the check list and run a flow with my finger right to left and low to high. Over the first year, he learned all of the instrument names. He flys, turns, climbs and descends like a pro - just haven't allowed him to land. He was doing all of this at 8-10 yrs of age. He's older now, but never really got the "bug". He got his drivers license late as well.
 
Some great stories here, I'm going to read some of them to my kids. The checklist stuff is a great idea. Getting called out for turning 200ft early is a classic. Future DPE right there!

So much of my flying for the past 3 years has been for the business...in fact...all but maybe 2-3 flights have either been work or maintenance. It was so nice to get out there with my little one and have some fun. Can't wait to do it again when it's smooth and with a pillow so he can see a little more. At least he did get a taste of the view during some of the turns.
 
It is a great thing indeed. My 5-yr old (now) first flew with me when he was 3 yrs old. It was challenging then but it is much better now. They are still so needy at that age that my wife has to play flight attendant while I fly or it wouldn't work.

When he was 3 and 4 years old he would squeal in a way that could break Plexiglas if we got into turbulence and upon banking (usually just the first time). The first time we tried putting a cannula on him was... well we didn't fly. We took him home and let him play with it for a while.

They are now 8 and 5 and are old veterans. They can sleep or watch iPad through even the gnarliest bumps.

Here is a pic of my oldest son, Jacob when he was 6 years old. He still likes to flip his mic up out of his face when he isn't using it.

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It is great. My son's been flying since about 1 month old, but for us it's transportation as well as fun, so this is how we go places that are further than the airport. :)
 
Second flight, quite a bit better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAsni1IBJTw

Trey takes things very literally, when I say, "let's hope he makes it," regarding the 172 that landed ahead of us, he becomes genuinely concerned.

The flight goes nicely, we even get to practice some engine out work on the way back.
 
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MAKG1 said:
I never found a booster seat necessary. It helps nap time, but even in the back seat of a 172, I found my kid could see out just fine.

They are technically not legal in aircraft….
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Prohibited under Part 121. Not under part 91.
 
It's always fun taking kids flying, especially when it's their first time...looks like you had a blast! :) I have twin 7 (almost 8) year old cousins, a boy and a girl. The boy is completely enamored with flying, and every time the family gets together for dinner at Stearman Bar and Grill, he begs for an airplane ride. He can name off 172's, Bonanzas, Cherokees, King Airs, all that. He can also read the altimeter with ease...The girl, however, doesn't really care to fly at all, but will protest if her brother gets to fly and she doesn't....Once airborne, she is not happy until we're back on the ground...go figure. :) Still always a fun time:)
 
I passed my checkride last Monday. I went straight to school and checked my 10 year old son out. Went for about a 30 minute flight and it was awesome.
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