Freaked out passenger

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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Castle Rock, CO
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Everything Offends Me
Today, my friend Brian and I were going to fly to Santa Rosa to see if we could find a restaurant to eat lunch at.

I was expecting occasional light turbulence, and I explained that to Brian as we drove to the airport. Everything seemed ok with him. As soon as we lifted off, he grabbed the armrest and turned ghost white. I looked at him and asked if he was alright, and offered him a barf bag.

"I'm deathly afraid of flying," he said.

He never mentioned that to me before, and he seemed excited about the flight up until then. We continued after he said he would be ok. After about the 6th time he asked "Am I going to be OK?." we hit a small bit of turbulence that really whipped the airplane.

"Do you want to go back, Brian?" I asked? "Yes, as long as you don't think I'm a sissy."

Well, of course I don't think he's a sissy, and I told him that. We turned around, and headed back to Double Eagle. I got abeam the numbers, and pulled the power back to start my descent.

"What are you doing, man??" he freaked out on me. I explained that in order to land, we have to slow down and descend. To make him feel better, I added a little bit of power so that the engine sounded fuller.

We were a bit high on final, and to avoid freaking him out more, I avoided slipping it down, and instead came in pretty steeply, the plane we had had 40 degree of flaps anyways. For some reason, that did not bug him at all, and when we touched down, he got really excited and thanked me like 20 times.

I'm thinking he's not gonna be the next pilot here in Albuquerque. I really don't think he's a sissy, either. Flying is not fun for everyone I guess.
 
I have a friend who didn't get past the run-up. We taxied back and called it a day. He was looking really nervous checking his pulse during the entire taxi. However, he told me later that he wished he had gone thru the flight. Better to have him freak out on the ground.
 
I had a passenger get sick and really feel like crap during a longer trip to Sedona and beyond. He was a big, tough guy that swore he'd never get airsick....before he filled TWO barf bags (thank goodness we didn't need a third that I didn't have).

I changed my first timer policy after that: local flights only, no longer than an hour, winds no higher than 10kts. If he/she seems especially nervous, I keep it REAL close to the airport.
 
This reminds me of my wife,.... on the motorcycle. In the plane, she is great,.. she will read her book through the worst of it never at all concerned. Even when I am sweating bullets in serious bumps and weather she doesn't seem worried at all. I recently purchased a motorcycle and wanted to take her for a ride. She cried and hyperventilated before I even started the engine!
 
ErikU said:
This reminds me of my wife,.... on the motorcycle. In the plane, she is great,.. she will read her book through the worst of it never at all concerned. Even when I am sweating bullets in serious bumps and weather she doesn't seem worried at all. I recently purchased a motorcycle and wanted to take her for a ride. She cried and hyperventilated before I even started the engine!
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Trade ya ;)

My wife thinks nothing of getting on the back of the bike, even when I'm grinding pegs and hard parts thru Deals Gap. (she tries to count the 311 turns in 11 miles)

Plane, no way, I've had my ticket since November, and she has yet to go for a ride. No matter that I explain she is much more likely to be injured on the bike than in the plane...doesn't wash.

Oh well, someday...:redface:
 
You handled it well, Nick. You'd think a guy like that would ask a lot of questions before boarding. It could have been worse.

You never know, there may have been a lot of positive change in him since he took the flight and has had a chance to reflect on it. Don't write him off as a passenger yet.
 
A few years ago I got my parents to come to a Young Eagles event. They spent some time watching kids jumping in and out of airplanes and started getting a bit more used to the idea, so somehow I got my mom into the plane. We took off, hit a tiny bump a few hundred feet above the ground, she screamed and closed her eyes, and that was that - we were on the ground 5 minutes later. The closest I've gotten my dad to flying is tricking him into getting into the plane and taxiing across the field to park. They're just very conservative (except for their nude beach during the summer - other than that, very conservative...)
 
When I was the unit commander of a Civil Air Patrol squadron I had a guy join who wanted to be a pilot his whole life. Trouble is he would get air sick really really easily. But that didn't stop him from going up with anyone who would have him. One time a group of us went for the $100 breakfast at an airport that used to have a restaurant on the field. When we sat there looking over the menus he said "Well, there's no point in making a big investment in this". Sure enough, he lost it on the way back.

His thought was that if he continually exposed himself to flight that sooner or later he would get over it. Well, he did and he's been a pilot now for about 10 years.

Another interesting fact about him is that he and his dad are in business together doing plumbing, heating and electrical. His dad won the Sporty's 172 back in the mid 80's and they still have that airplane. His dad was a licensed pilot who hadn't flown in 30 years when he won the airplane. He bought couple of charts and that's what got him entered in the drawing and he won.

He had to go through flight training all over again. His instructor told him that he couldn't let him solo either, because he wasn't flying on a student certificate there was no mechanism to sign him off for solo flight other than a BFR. So, he had to have the instructor with him until he was competent for a BFR. I suppose that's not too big a price to pay after winning an airplane.

Jeannie
 
Yes, those tiny air-bumps.....

I talk to non-flying people a lot about the normal aspects of flying, like bumps, changing engine noises, and the fact that you have to bank to turn. A lot of people won't ask about these things, but they harbor a lot of insecurities. I consider all this talking prep time, in case they should ever go flying with me. :)

The bumps in the air I equate to driving over potholes in the road. We don't normally shriek when there are changes in road surface, that's just the way the road is. I keep reinforcing the normalcy of it. It sometimes takes a while, but eventually it sinks in. If you had been in the airplane with me my first three months of flight training, you'd be laughing. A shriek every two seconds.
 
NickDBrennan said:
As soon as we lifted off, he grabbed the armrest and turned ghost white. I looked at him and asked if he was alright, and offered him a barf bag.

"I'm deathly afraid of flying," he said.

He never mentioned that to me before
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Y'all remember Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid facing those five or six Bolivian bandidos in a situation in which it was pretty obvious that only one the two sides of the discussion would be vertical when it was over?
Butch: Kid, there's something I ought to tell you. I never shot anybody before.

Sundance: You picked one hell of a time to tell me.

This is something that should be discussed carefully with any passenger not known to have been in light planes before. Folks may well be reluctant to discuss their fears, and unless you want a bad situation in the cockpit, you'd do well to explore this (gently, perhaps) before getting in the plane.
 
ErikU said:
This reminds me of my wife,.... on the motorcycle. In the plane, she is great,.. she will read her book through the worst of it never at all concerned. Even when I am sweating bullets in serious bumps and weather she doesn't seem worried at all. I recently purchased a motorcycle and wanted to take her for a ride. She cried and hyperventilated before I even started the engine!
Click to expand...

that would be me. not crying, but nearly hyperventilating on the ride. my last bike ride I thought I was having some kind of anxiety attack (7 years ago) and that was it. we weren't even going 40!

I think it was b/c I witnessed a horrific accident and saw a guy (a friend of my friend - we were all riding together) get airlifted out by a Medivac. prior to that I'd hop right on, heck, we'd go to the beach in shorts, tank top, and flip flops (and helmet). after that - nuh uh. maybe now I could get back on again, not sure.
 
I had a Lifeline Pilots passenger once who was scared to death. He kept saying that if we ever got on the ground he's never fly again. I voulteered to take him back, but his mother (he was 22-23 years old with cancer) said he really needed to be at his Drs. appointment. She and I both sypathized with him and I think they had someone drive from the Carolinas to Indy to take him home after his treatment. I kept it as slow and smooth as I could but he was visibly terrified.
 
Before I got my license, I rember holding on to whatever I could when I flew in GA aircraft. :)

I'm sure its been said before, but when taking new people up, I make sure I explain everything I'm doing. Changing the prop speed, pulling the power back, raising/lowering the gear, all make noises that newbie passengers don't want to hear.

I have to explain every time that the 'klunk-klunk' of the gear coming down is a GOOD noise!
 
My wife was terrified to fly before the lessons.

Now she is a PP, has flown an L-39, and is working on her IR. Even the motion sickness can be overcome. She swears by those $10 wrist bands with the beads.

Jim G
 
I've had a few memorable passenger incidents over the years. One was a friend (and supervisor at work) who was pretty much terrified of flying in anything including airliners. I'd taken him flying near home a couple times before he went with me when I flew a rented Cardinal down the Grand Canyon. During one particularly nasty bump the loose fitting passenger door let in a small jet of air that hit him in the face and before I knew it he was practically in my lap. He never got completely over his fears, but for reasons I still don't completely understand was willing to accompany me in the plane several times and never had us terminate a flight prematurely.

Another time I took a friend and his 7 year old son up in the Baron for a short local flight around their home area in Michigan. The boy was quite excited about the flight, but once we got in the air he became terrified anytime I banked the airplane for a turn. We're not talking about steep turns, nothing more than 20 degrees of bank, but somehow he was convinced that either he or the plane was going to fall out of the sky whenever I turned. By slowing down a bit and skidding the turns with no more than 5 degrees of bank I managed to get back on the ground without upsetting him further, but no matter what his father or I said to explain, he just whined/screamed if I banked. This was a kid who'd been riding motocross for a couple years, go figure!
 
I'm a funny case. I'm comfortable in the left seat, but for some reason I get a little nervous in the right seat. I guess it's a control thing.

The last time I went with a friend as his safety pilot, I grabbed the top of the console and held on during takeoff and climbout. My friend said, "Are you OK?" I told him that I was fine, and switched to holding onto the shoulder belt.

I guess I just need something to hold. I do tend to use the "chicken handles" in cars on sharp turns as well.
 
I think with my wife it could have something to do with when I learned to fly, and when I learned to ride. I had been flying for some time before I met her, and she was young, and I suppose charmed by me at the time, and totally trusted that I was a "pro" at flying.

I learned to ride recently, since we have been married, now that she is not so charmed by me, and knows what a goofball I can be sometimes. I'll bet that if I was riding before I met her she would have no problem with that either.

My mom is a scared airplane passenger, and she has only gone up with me a couple times, usually so scared she is unable to speak during the flight, or just freaked out and screaming. I finally talked my parents into a trip from Seattle to SanFrancisco. She talked to her doctor and got a prescription for Xanax. Wow, what a miracle drug! Shortly after departure we were in BAD turbulance, with T-storms in three quadrants with visiable lightning. I was a little white knuckled and we hit a huge bump and there was a loud bang followed by a very loud rush of air in the cockpit! The giant emergency exit window right next to her had popped wide open!! Aside from a giant hole, it is super noisy and can be scary for any one. While I was still trying to catch my breath, she calmly reach ouside the window with both arms, grabbed the release, and pulled it closed and latched. Later she told me what a fun flight it was. Unbelieveable drug!
 
ErikU said:
I learned to ride recently, since we have been married, now that she is not so charmed by me, and knows what a goofball I can be sometimes. I'll bet that if I was riding before I met her she would have no problem with that either.
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We have polar opposite situations!

When I met my wife, I had already been riding 12 years, had four bikes, and had close to 100k on two wheels by then, track days, etc. She jumped on back and we went roosting merrily away.

Now that she knows this goofball, she doesn't want to fly yet. (Doesn't help that the slightest bump on a large airliner and she's digging into the armrests.)

It will come. When we got our sailboat, she shrieked anytime it heeled more than 10 degrees, now I can almost wash the decks without hearing that noise :p
 
I flew back to Dallas from LA yesterday, and sitting next to me was a very nice young lady who works for a biotech company as a researcher. Smart and bright person, terrified to fly. She started the flight off with a Xanax and one of those small bottles of wine.

I spent the first half of the flight asking questions about biotech work and the like, then she asked me what I did. When she found out I was a pilot, she started asking lots of questions. Turns out she didn't have a problem until a few years ago. She was on a helicopter tour of Hawaii when they had a bird strike through the front window, made a terrible mess in the cabin and scared her to death. She told me that she was afraid the helicopter was going to crash (which it wouldn't, unless the pilot was knocked out).

Anyway, so I started explaining how jets fly, how little airplanes fly, and the safeties built into them. For example, she thought that the first 2 or 3 minutes of an airline flight were dangerous because if an engine quit they would crash. Took awhile to explain the concept of a balanced field length (the reason it won't), and so on...

My ultimate suggestion for her, considering that she is very much a type A personality, was to take some flight lessons. Having the controls in your hand, feeling the inputs you make as the airplane moves, really gives a boost to confidence.

By the end of the flight, she asked for my business card and gave me hers, telling me that she was interested in taking a few lessons to try it out, that she wanted to conquer her fears.

Now I don't know about the rest of you, but to me that's the best way to go about it. Get a person who is afraid to fly a few lessons from a CFI with lots of patience, and help them conquer their fears.
 
Bill Jennings said:
It will come. When we got our sailboat, she shrieked anytime it heeled more than 10 degrees, now I can almost wash the decks without hearing that noise :p
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Well, my wife isn't quite so loud when I get to 10 to 15 degrees of heeling angle, but she sure is letting me know that she isn't comfortable. And we've been sailing together for over 30 years (current boat for the past 11 years). Oh well...
 
ErikU said:
This reminds me of my wife,.... on the motorcycle. In the plane, she is great,.. she will read her book through the worst of it never at all concerned. Even when I am sweating bullets in serious bumps and weather she doesn't seem worried at all. I recently purchased a motorcycle and wanted to take her for a ride. She cried and hyperventilated before I even started the engine!
Click to expand...

We rode motorcycles in college. After getting hit broadside by a 1968 Mustang that blew a stop sign (thank you Ford for building such a flimsy front end!) and winding up with life long injuries (not that impact a 3rd class medical, thank goodness!) she has made it clear that if I ever want a divorce, just get another bike. However, she will fly with me and is an excellent navigator. And I took up flying 5 years ago (the accident was 31 years ago). Priorities. Which would you rather do, fly or ride with her?
 
Ken Ibold said:
No question about it. And a BMW Z-4 is a reasonable subsitute for a bike.
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Sorry, but I think the Z-4 is ugh-ly. I really liked the Z3 2.8 we had, but sold when child came along. (can you say stooopid? Where is that dopeslap smiley when you need one?)
 
woodstock said:
that would be me. not crying, but nearly hyperventilating on the ride. my last bike ride I thought I was having some kind of anxiety attack (7 years ago) and that was it. we weren't even going 40!

I think it was b/c I witnessed a horrific accident and saw a guy (a friend of my friend - we were all riding together) get airlifted out by a Medivac. prior to that I'd hop right on, heck, we'd go to the beach in shorts, tank top, and flip flops (and helmet). after that - nuh uh. maybe now I could get back on again, not sure.
Click to expand...

It's not so much the bike, it's the extreme danger of all the inattentive motorists around us when we're on two wheelers of any kind.
 
Ghery said:
We rode motorcycles in college. After getting hit broadside by a 1968 Mustang that blew a stop sign (thank you Ford for building such a flimsy front end!) and winding up with life long injuries (not that impact a 3rd class medical, thank goodness!) she has made it clear that if I ever want a divorce, just get another bike. However, she will fly with me and is an excellent navigator. And I took up flying 5 years ago (the accident was 31 years ago). Priorities. Which would you rather do, fly or ride with her?
Click to expand...

My first wife not only didn't fly well, she didn't like flying or me flying.
I don't miss her.
 
While reading Nick's original post I thought, "When is he gonna' say he briefed Brian on what to expect?" That omission left me wondering. Just as Ron pointed out.

However, I recall taking a friend for a $150 hamburger. We had the talk. We talked a lot about his history around small planes, motion sickness, what sensations he could expect during the flight, what the take off will be like, what normal manuvering to expect, the landing, rules for positive communications, the whole nine yards.

The entire outbound flight was uneventful. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. My first indication was on the ground at lunch when he said he wasn't very hungry but I let it pass since was the only indication. The return flight went as well as the outbound. Only when we were in the car driving home did he confess he was terrified the whole time. Huh??? I asked what bothered him. He said everything bothered him. So even though I took great effort to inform him of what to expect he let his fear override his knowledge, even though he gave no hint of his emotional state. It was like he was John Wayne, never show emotion.

He even begged me to do some of those steep turns again--it turns out he thought it would 'unwind' the queasyness he felt. God help me, I'll never understand people.
 
Richard said:
While reading Nick's original post I thought, "When is he gonna' say he briefed Brian on what to expect?" That omission left me wondering. Just as Ron pointed out.
Click to expand...

My briefing obviously lacked some important details, but I did tell him that turbulence feels different in a small airplane like that. I assumed, that since he was excited about flying, that the flight would be enjoyable. As such, I figured we'd take things as they came in the air. Of course, I covered all the required passenger breifing items as well.

Future experience is going to have me be a whole lot more thorough in telling people what to expect.
 
NickDBrennan said:
My briefing obviously lacked some important details, but I did tell him that turbulence feels different in a small airplane like that. I assumed, that since he was excited about flying, that the flight would be enjoyable. As such, I figured we'd take things as they came in the air. Of course, I covered all the required passenger breifing items as well.

Future experience is going to have me be a whole lot more thorough in telling people what to expect.
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Cathy and Sean had already flown with me and my instructor a couple times before I got my license, so my Mom was my first "virgin" passenger last month. I told her what we'd be doing, showed her some of the lights that would be blinking, told her to expect a few bumps, and told her that if she saw or heard something that I hadn't explained, not to worry. That I would tell her if we had a problem, so anything she saw or heard was supposed to be happening. In the air, told her what I'd be doing before I did anything. It was pretty bumpy with thermals, so on return I stayed high as long as I could, then explained what a slip was before doing it. She said it didn't sound like a big deal, so I slipped right down to the runway from 5500 feet with no objections. Before landing, I specifically briefed her on the stall warning, which in the Tiger is a loud, insistent beeper.

When all was said and done, she said she only got scared about one thing. I thought it would be the slip, but she said that didn't feel different to her. She said that what bothered her was when we were coming back, and she saw the runway from about 25 miles out (it was a beautiful day) and realized that I had to get the plane back to that little dot and land on it.
 
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