First Trip With Passengers

I suspect the OP is a renter. I allow nothing liquid in my aircraft more translucent than distilled water. I do not allow snacks. Aircraft interiors are expensive, easily stained and not so easily cleaned. We can grad snacks when we land.

Of course, I fly a Mooney, so a 170 nm trip doesn't last all that long.
 
OP owns a 182. His wife has been a pilot for a while and he got his PPL in it a few (six?) months ago.
 
steingar said:
I suspect the OP is a renter. I allow nothing liquid in my aircraft more translucent than distilled water. I do not allow snacks. Aircraft interiors are expensive, easily stained and not so easily cleaned. We can grad snacks when we land.

Of course, I fly a Mooney, so a 170 nm trip doesn't last all that long.
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Try that on a 6 hour non stop flight. Or just don't eat like a slob, and keep a shop vac in the hangar. I have yet to spill anything in a plane, and granola bars and beef jerky don't stain anything.
 
The only thing I don't like about taking up my family/passengers is that it has the potential to impact the pre-flight routine. I had one time where I left the oil access cover unlocked because my son and wife were both interacting with me and I lost my routine. I didn't notice until it started flapping up and down after starting the engine.
 
EdFred said:
Try that on a 6 hour non stop flight. Or just don't eat like a slob, and keep a shop vac in the hangar. I have yet to spill anything in a plane, and granola bars and beef jerky don't stain anything.
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I don't do 6 hour legs. I fly airplanes for fun, not punishment.
 
Challenged said:
The only thing I don't like about taking up my family/passengers is that it has the potential to impact the pre-flight routine. I had one time where I left the oil access cover unlocked because my son and wife were both interacting with me and I lost my routine. I didn't notice until it started flapping up and down after starting the engine.
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As I am new to this passenger thing, I have only had a few variants of the pre-flight with possible interruptions:
  • For the very first ride (Wife and Daughter) I did the pre-flight alone while they were out walking around the airport and using the bathroom.
  • For the next passenger I did a un-interrupted preflight then picked up the passenger at a different airport. Was near the plane at all times so briefed the passenger, got them setup and then did an abbreviated pre-flight.
  • For the next passenger, he was very interested and met me at the airport. He walked around for the entire pre-flight asking questions along the way but never resulted in me leaving my flow, rather just pause, explain, move on.
  • For the wife, daughter, dog flight they did their own thing and walked the dog really good to tire him out and get him to pee. I was done well before them leaving me time to also cover up the back seat.
  • For this last flight, I told my daughter to walk her friend over the little building, get water, use the bathroom and just hang out. So they never bothered me at all. What slowed me down was when the pre-flight was done, it was rigging headset cords, explaining "emergency" things to her friend, etc. A few questions came out. I especially remember "Would we ever have to get out in an emergency?".
...with that limited experience I can easily see future interruptions in pre-flight. However, much, much more distracting is fellow pilots at the airport. They will drive up, get out of the car and talk to you while pre-flighting :mad:
 
When I have a newbie, I hand them the checklist and have them read it to me. I tell them what it means, and why I check it.

Takes longer, but puts them at ease.

If riding with a pilot I know, I just show up and say "anything interesting on the pre-flight?" If no, I jump in and we go. That's pretty much how they do it if I'm "doing the honors."
 
I preflight with the hangar door closed. That way no interruptions. After preflight I open the hangar door and pull the plane out.
 
Sinistar said:
Also related to FF, the girls hated it. Non-stop chatter, especially once we were on the main MPLS Center frequency. They were trying to watch a movie. One had earbuds under our most cushy DC's and she couldn't turn the headset volume down enough. And her friend was using my daughter's kid headset with dedicated audio input. But she couldn't turn hers down enough either. I almost pulled their receive plugs but I knew better in case there was an emergency. So I need to figure out a inline adapter or something? Ideas anyone??
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Might be Capt. Obvious here, but...
Doesn't your intercom/audio panel have a "pilot isolate" switch? I call mine the "talk among yourselves" switch ;)
 
EdFred said:
I preflight with the hangar door closed. That way no interruptions. After preflight I open the hangar door and pull the plane out.
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I partially agree. I leave the door open, but I don't pull her out into the lane until preflight is complete. a) don't want to exert the effort if something is amiss, b) don't want to clog the taxiway longer than necessary.
 
steingar said:
I suspect the OP is a renter. I allow nothing liquid in my aircraft more translucent than distilled water. I do not allow snacks. Aircraft interiors are expensive, easily stained and not so easily cleaned. We can grad snacks when we land.

Of course, I fly a Mooney, so a 170 nm trip doesn't last all that long.
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Aircraft is owned.

Maybe I should clarify that I was carrying a heavy grocery bag full of snacks...but that was in the baggage compartment and not being eaten. That bag of food and cooler was penance for staying at grandma's cabin over the holiday. However if we were going to try for a 2hr+ leg with 10yr olds I would also have some sort of simple snack. Definitely not anything chocolate, diary, sticky or fizzy.

Obviously only water up front. My daughter learned a funny lesson on one of her first flights on the Skylane. Wife was flying, I was right seat, daughter in back. She had brought with her own water bottle. It was the kind with a straw all the way to the bottom. Of course she had to get drink up around 4500agl. Freaked her out a bit and she got soaked. Was a good physics lesson :)

Now for the plane I only buy water bottles with the top that pops up/down. I immediately throw away that tiny protective cap that goes over it. I hate bottles with spin off caps because you just know in the plane you will drop it and now you'll have a bottle with no top. I also carry a tiny empty spray bottle. When I land I just squirt water into it and use the rest to wash the windshield and bugs off the wings.

I know the Mooney is faster (cool!) but at only 170nm, compared to Skylane (fixed gear) are we talking around 10 minutes saved per hour? I guess I have no clue.
 
Got it. Yeah, I cary food for a long trip like Oshkosh, and if I carry enough the airplane notices. A 170 num trip for me is about an hour and ten minutes flight time given neutral winds. I've had the good fortune to own a couple airplanes with nice interiors, I work to keep them that way. We have the twist off things, but Mrs. Steingar handles them. I neither drink nor snack at altitude, though I will accept a bit of water if offered.

I used to involve passengers in all the preflight shenanigans, but these days I'd just as soon they wait in the terminal for me and the aircraft to show up, especially if climatic conditions are non permissive, which is most of the time where I live.

I gave up on FF long ago. Makes it difficult to participate in a conversation when you've got to constantly listen for your tail number. That, and with the Stratus and Foreflight I see all the traffic they do.
 
talkingbob said:
Might be Capt. Obvious here, but...
Doesn't your intercom/audio panel have a "pilot isolate" switch? I call mine the "talk among yourselves" switch ;)
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I think I mentioned it in a earlier post, yes it has one but is in a crappy spot and as I recall, none of the passengers can talk to each other when isolated. So I find it of no use. Now if they were going crazy on the intercom I would use it. But it would really be nice to have a system where they can chat between each other a not have to hear the radios/navs, etc.
 
My old airplane had an intercom where I could isolate myself, the other pax could chat all they wanted. Didn't use it that much.
 
Maybe I should ask in another place, but this is about passengers...
In the event of a forced landing, in terrain, what position is the best for the backseat, and for the right hand seat passengers to take on landing?

Backseat I would think would be the same as on airliners, but the RH seat, with the yoke sticking out, etc, is there a best position?
 
LongRoadBob said:
Maybe I should ask in another place, but this is about passengers...
In the event of a forced landing, in terrain, what position is the best for the backseat, and for the right hand seat passengers to take on landing?
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I think the best position would be home watching TV.
 
LongRoadBob said:
Maybe I should ask in another place, but this is about passengers...
In the event of a forced landing, in terrain, what position is the best for the backseat, and for the right hand seat passengers to take on landing?

Backseat I would think would be the same as on airliners, but the RH seat, with the yoke sticking out, etc, is there a best position?
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Great question - I don't mind if its here.

I'll even add to that question: What if the front seat has no shoulder restraint vs. single across the body restraint vs. dual shoulder restraints.

When I was hauling the kids, I had the empty co-pilot seat way forward. It gives them lots of leg room and they can easily just pop open the handle to get out.

When it is just one passenger up front, its tempting to have them slide the seat all the way back. In a 182...it goes a long ways back. This would seem to get them away from the top edge of of the panel and yoke. It would also mean the seat is already in the easiest to exit location. However, I can see two problems here:

1.) The lower belt does not feed out on a tensioned reel like the dual shoulder harness. So the passenger would have to re-tighten the belt quickly as moving the seat rear to get also leads to too much slack in the lap belt.

2.) If you are pointed down pitching for best glide or worse, a steeper emergency descent it might be hard for them to slide the seat back with part of their weight pushing them ahead.

...I know if I was riding in the copilot seat I would probably do 1&2 above but I know the plane pretty well now.
 
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