First time taking a passenger

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asgcpa

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Ok gang. Here it is. Tomorrow I am taking my son on a xc. It is the first time in 30+ years I am taking a non licensed passenger...I have either flown solo or taken a passenger who happens to be a licensed pilot. BTW my son has started on this journey and has about 12 hours himself. While it is a short xc, 40 minutes or so each way, is it wrong to be nervous? I have flown this route before......

Advice?
 
Yes it's wrong to be nervous. You have flown this route before. Do it the same as before and forget your son is even there.
 
MultiMediaWill said:
Yes it's wrong to be nervous. You have flown this route before. Do it the same as before and forget your son is even there.
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Well that's kinda wrong too. Do you forget your kids are with you in the car? I mean, really?!
 
denverpilot said:
Well that's kinda wrong too. Do you forget your kids are with you in the car? I mean, really?!
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What i'm trying to say is he should fly the route as if his son wasn't there. That will make him less nervous.
 
Yeah I hear ya. I just say, enjoy the flight with the kid.

You can always make another one!

( ducking ... )
 
Enjoy the flight if your not nervous neither will the kid be.Dont try to impress.He will have plenty of questions if he is getting into flying.Have Fun
 
Enjoy the experience of flying with your Son.I am envious of you, my 44 yr old Son is totally against my flying activities, he believes all small aircraft are always just minutes from falling out of the sky...He reluctantly flys commercial if he needs to get somewhere, but the slightest bit of turbulence or change in engine note and he is tightly gripping the arm rest and waiting for the crash !!

He thinks his mom and me are just plain crazy flying around in a single engine airplane...

Some folk have said I should try to persuade him to come up just for a short flight to show him just how much fun it is, but to be honest if I did get to take him up I would be afraid in case he panicked and grabbed the yoke or hit the pedals at the slightest bump !
 
alland said:
Enjoy the experience of flying with your Son.I am envious of you, my 44 yr old Son is totally against my flying activities, he believes all small aircraft are always just minutes from falling out of the sky...He reluctantly flys commercial if he needs to get somewhere, but the slightest bit of turbulence or change in engine note and he is tightly gripping the arm rest and waiting for the crash !!

He thinks his mom and me are just plain crazy flying around in a single engine airplane...

Some folk have said I should try to persuade him to come up just for a short flight to show him just how much fun it is, but to be honest if I did get to take him up I would be afraid in case he panicked and grabbed the yoke or hit the pedals at the slightest bump !
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Put him up for adoption!!:D:D
 
asgcpa said:
Ok gang. Here it is. Tomorrow I am taking my son on a xc. It is the first time in 30+ years I am taking a non licensed passenger...I have either flown solo or taken a passenger who happens to be a licensed pilot. BTW my son has started on this journey and has about 12 hours himself. While it is a short xc, 40 minutes or so each way, is it wrong to be nervous? I have flown this route before......

Advice?
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It's not wrong. The added responsibility gets you thinking for sure. I have had to deal with nerves on most of my flights with passengers since getting my PPL.
 
If he has his own hours it not like a complete new passenger. He knows what's up a bit already.
 
N747JB said:
Put him up for adoption!!:D:D
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Been trying to do that for 44 yrs....no takers...:dunno:

We even moved house once when he was away at college...but he tracked us down...:lol:

Seriously he is a great guy who would stop a bullet for me or his mom, he followed me into auto racing for a career and has no fear behind the wheel of a auto, but airplanes...nope just not his thing.
 
alland said:
He thinks his mom and me are just plain crazy flying around in a single engine airplane...
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If he would learn to spell, he'd be right on the money!
 
alland said:
Been trying to do that for 44 yrs....no takers...:dunno:

We even moved house once when he was away at college...but he tracked us down...:lol:

Seriously he is a great guy who would stop a bullet for me or his mom, he followed me into auto racing for a career and has no fear behind the wheel of a auto, but airplanes...nope just not his thing.
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It is funny what people fear, racing cars inches from other cars at 100+ MPH no sweat, bumping along in a 172 miles from another airplane, sheer panic!! :yikes: I have a neighbor that is scared to death of spiders, but snakes don't bother her!:dunno:
My youngest son is 18 and loves to fly, my daughter is 24 and will fly anywhere with me, my 19 year old son flies when he HAS to.:dunno: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. :D
 
C182P said:
If he would learn to spell, he'd be right on the money!
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Actually Sir, here in good old England the land where we speak the Queens English....that is the correct way we spell it in the term used in my posting descriptive...;)

My apologies to the OP, we are diverting from the thread topic which is plain for anyone to see..:rolleyes:
 
asgcpa said:
Ok gang. Here it is. Tomorrow I am taking my son on a xc. It is the first time in 30+ years I am taking a non licensed passenger...I have either flown solo or taken a passenger who happens to be a licensed pilot. BTW my son has started on this journey and has about 12 hours himself. While it is a short xc, 40 minutes or so each way, is it wrong to be nervous? I have flown this route before......

Advice?
Click to expand...

I always add altitude when carrying passengers. Other than that bring a barf bag, just in case. ;)
 
alland said:
Actually Sir, here in good old England the land where we speak the Queens English....that is the correct way we spell it in the term used in my posting descriptive...;)

My apologies to the OP, we are diverting from the thread topic which is plain for anyone to see..:rolleyes:
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I can't help but chuckle a bit....I grew up in Canada and moved to the US to go to grad school. One of the most acclaimed business schools in the Chicago area wanted me to take the TOEFL test .... Test of English as a Foreign Language....lol.
 
alland said:
Actually Sir, here in good old England the land where we speak the Queens English....that is the correct way we spell it in the term used in my posting descriptive...;)

My apologies to the OP, we are diverting from the thread topic which is plain for anyone to see..:rolleyes:
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I was subtly suggesting that "plane crazy" was more appropriate, under the definition based on that spelling. Either you didn't get that, or I didn't get that in England, "plain" refers to a craft that sails through the air.
 
asgcpa said:
I can't help but chuckle a bit....I grew up in Canada and moved to the US to go to grad school. One of the most acclaimed business schools in the Chicago area wanted me to take the TOEFL test .... Test of English as a Foreign Language....lol.
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Well I can tell you these days with our almost open border policy on immigration into the UK ...in a couple of generations English will be considered a foreign language ..:confused:
 
asgcpa said:
I can't help but chuckle a bit....I grew up in Canada and moved to the US to go to grad school. One of the most acclaimed business schools in the Chicago area wanted me to take the TOEFL test .... Test of English as a Foreign Language....lol.
Click to expand...
Did you pass?
 
alland said:
Some folk have said I should try to persuade him to come up just for a short flight to show him just how much fun it is, but to be honest if I did get to take him up I would be afraid in case he panicked and grabbed the yoke or hit the pedals at the slightest bump !
Click to expand...

My sister refused to fly for years, got sick on flights secondary to anxiety (but also flew mid afternoon on most flights adding to the TB B). Jokingly, I always asked if she wanted to "go up" as I would be heading out on a refuel mission always expecting a "no" or "hell no" response.

Surprisingly, one day she said she would meet me at the hangar (I thought she was pulling my leg) ... but low and behold, there she was. I went through the pre-flight with her showing her everything which relaxed her to know that the AC are dirt simple and fairly easy to pre-flight (it also helps that the Tiger has full engine access for new pax to see everything).

At engine start-up she was tense, but I told her we would/could abort anytime she chose. We taxi out to the runway only to see an RV do a slam and go (bouncing about 15 feet in the air) and she asks, "are we going to be landing like THAT!", I assured her we woud not.

Long story short, she relaxed as soon as we got to pattern altitude and was calm enough for me to leave the pattern. After 30 minutes, I suggested we return to land. She said she wasn't ready yet and wanted to go over to the Class C for a landing! It was her first, I knew she would be uptight, so I made it a flatter than normal approach. Turning final ATC has a SWA jet on the parallel runway immediately abeam us. She was so caught up in looking at that jet, she didn't feel the landing and was surprised when I powered up for the "Go" on the TNG. She no longer had a fear of flying and am glad I was able to get her to that point. Literally, she is 47 years old and only flown less than a half dozen times commercially. She taped her house when we flew over it as well as the attached landing into El Paso KELP RWY 26R.

Take your son, have him video or take pictures ... it'll be a blast. My son videoed and took pictures and was my first passenger post PPL.


Things NOT to do on first flight with new PAX:

1. No slips to land
2. No stalls or steep turns
3. Avoid high approach on final
4. Avoid Vx departure unless necessary

Basically keep it benign and boring.
 
Last edited:
DrMack said:
Did you pass?
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I said screw you to the school and hoped they could understand me. The irony was the individual who spoke to me and passed on the news, had atrocious grammar skills.

So no....didn't take TOEFL as I went somewhere else.

You don't want to hear about the spelling comments when I spelled color as colour.....
 
danhagan said:
My sister refused to fly for years, got sick on flights secondary to anxiety (but also flew mid afternoon on most flights adding to the TB B). Jokingly, I always asked if she wanted to "go up" as I would be heading out on a refuel mission always expecting a "no" or "hell no" response.

Surprisingly, one day she said she would meet me at the hangar (I thought she was pulling my leg) ... but low and behold, there she was. I went through the pre-flight with her showing her everything which relaxed her to know that the AC are dirt simple and fairly easy to pre-flight (it also helps that the Tiger has full engine access for new pax to see everything).

At engine start-up she was tense, but I told her we would/could abort anytime she chose. We taxi out to the runway only to see an RV do a slam and go (bouncing about 15 feet in the air) and she asks, "are we going to be landing like THAT!", I assured her we woud not.

Long story short, she relaxed as soon as we got to pattern altitude and was calm enough for me to leave the pattern. After 30 minutes, I suggested we return to land. She said she wasn't ready yet and wanted to go over to the Class C for a landing! It was her first, I knew she would be uptight, so I made it a flatter than normal approach. Turning final ATC has a SWA jet on the parallel runway immediately abeam us. She was so caught up in looking at that jet, she didn't feel the landing and was surprised when I powered up for the "Go" on the TNG. She no longer had a fear of flying and am glad I was able to get her to that point. Literally, she is 47 years old and only flown less than a half dozen times commercially. She taped her house when we flew over it as well as the attached landing into El Paso KELP RWY 26R.

Take your son, have him video or take pictures ... it'll be a blast. My son videoed and took pictures and was my first passenger post PPL.


Things NOT to do on first flight with new PAX:

1. No slips to land
2. No stalls or steep turns
3. Avoid high approach on final
4. Avoid Vx departure unless necessary

Basically keep it benign and boring.
Click to expand...

We were supposed to go today but high winds and I was wiped out. So due to personal minimums we rescheduled. Kid said he would fly, I said I am PIC. This is what you get with a 20 year old an 17 hours under his belt. The kid wants stalls....we are going for a nice relaxing flight. PIC decision.
 
So took the kid out for about an hour yesterday. Just practice area. I was nervous as hell. Don't know why but was. He was impressed with my landing though.
 
asgcpa said:
We were supposed to go today but high winds and I was wiped out. So due to personal minimums we rescheduled. Kid said he would fly, I said I am PIC. This is what you get with a 20 year old an 17 hours under his belt. The kid wants stalls....we are going for a nice relaxing flight. PIC decision.
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asgcpa said:
So took the kid out for about an hour yesterday. Just practice area. I was nervous as hell. Don't know why but was. He was impressed with my landing though.
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Glad you had a good time. My son was 10 when I took him up post PPL. He's flown so much with me that he has all the checklists memorized as I say them out loud. He flies well, turns are coordinated and have had him fly the pattern before (has not landed yet) - he enjoys steep turns the most and can do stalls but doesn't really get excited with stalls. Seems ironic, but he doesn't want to go for a PPL license yet (he's now 17 - but he also has been dragging his feet to get his driver's license, not from any worries or anxiety as he used to race go-karts, just likes having a chauffeur).
 
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