Fun Video...My Sis-in-Law's first time in a GA Plane...

kenjr

kenjr

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KenJr
...my sister-in-law is (or should I say...was...) deathly scared of flying in general...especially in small airplanes. My brother-in-law (in the backseat) was a little as well - but we've flown around several times together...including a few long'ish trips to the coast to play golf.

She finally decided to conquer the fear and I brought along my camera's to capture the moment. Here's a short video of the trip...including a few censor beeps. :) Love helping people get over this fear. She's already talking about joining my wife and I when we fly up to Lubbock in a couple months...

Make sure to watch in HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3LE0llqH8Q
 
I liked that. Bravery rears its head in the strangest places. Good for her getting in the plane with you, and good for you for making the flight uneventful.
 
...thanks...turns out it was not an ideal day for a first timer...at least not below 8500' or so. It was pretty bumpy so I had to keep reassuring her that it was OK and normal.

All in all though, a fun and uneventful flight...the best kind.
 
Nicely done! Did you do a lot of preflight talking with her on what to expect or did she just say "let's do this"?


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...a LOT of talking. I walked her through the pre-flight and spent time explaining (not in gory detail) how many redundant systems, etc... we have in the engine, etc...

When I was doing the runup, etc... I just talked out loud what I was doing and she asked a few questions but for the most part was quiet. I didn't scare her with a "if we are about to crash here's how to open the door..." but I tried to overcommunicate with her - especially once we got airbone talking to her about all the gauges and giving her a few jobs to do like watching the CHT and changing the transponder for me :)
 
Well that put a smile on my face. Nice work and video.

I took my Mom up a few months ago. She wasn't able to conquer her fear, unfortunately. Luckily my SO quite enjoys flying.
 
You're a nicer guy than me, i took my brother up who hates flying and did stalls and spins. He wasn't happy but he doesn't mind flying commercial anymore
 
haha - well, i wanted her to fly with me again...and I can't spin my airplane on purpose (nor do I want to on accident either!) :)

When I was getting lessons I took my Dad up once and he sat in back while I did stalls, steep turns and the bit. He didn't mind a bit...but I don't think he was that scared of flying in the first place.
 
Well he was in the back my instructor was in the plane too, im still a student. So he couldnt do a thing. After the 1st one he found them fun
 
kenjr said:
...my sister-in-law is (or should I say...was...) deathly scared of flying in general...especially in small airplanes. My brother-in-law (in the backseat) was a little as well - but we've flown around several times together...including a few long'ish trips to the coast to play golf.

She finally decided to conquer the fear and I brought along my camera's to capture the moment. Here's a short video of the trip...including a few censor beeps. :) Love helping people get over this fear. She's already talking about joining my wife and I when we fly up to Lubbock in a couple months...

Make sure to watch in HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3LE0llqH8Q
Click to expand...

Well done bud! No need to chuck them around, just a nice easy flight is the way to go. :wink2:

You're in my neck o' the woods too! I'm always looking for more buddies to go flyin with, so let's go get some bbq!
 
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I'd love to Shane...I don't even need a good excuse like getting some Q to go flyin' :)

Shoot me an email at klince AT outlook.com. Are you hangared at KGTU?
 
Nicely done sir! My wife and I watched the video 2 times! You could feel the fear in her! You did a great job!

What I like to do with newbies is give them a job inside the cockpit after briefly explaining the panel to them. How to look for other planes, etc. But you know her capabilities and fears better than I.

Now, get her to fly it next time! :yes:
 
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Thank goodness you said someone was in the back seat. During the first bit of the video, that extra set of fingers on her wrist as she held open the door looked a bit spooky.
 
Archammer said:
You're in my neck o' the woods too! I'm always looking for more buddies to go flyin with, so let's go get some bbq!
Click to expand...

There is some initial planning for a few of us to go to KSEP and Hard8 on Wednesday if you two can attend.
 
eman1200 said:
Cool! Which headset r u using?
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It looks like the Quiet Technologies Halo.

I also have one and like it alot. Noise Reduction is on par with the ANR sets, and the microphone sound quality is one of the best there is. Comfort level is high. And was a good pairing with my JeppShades when doing my IFR training.
 
Professionally done. You may have created a new student pilot.
 
yup - it's a Halo. Love it. I bought the Zulu.2's that she is wearing during my PPL training and about 6 months ago I read about the Halo's and bought a set...they are awesome. I forget that I even have a headset on and the mic is the best I've ever used.

I've found the same thing with the newbies - give them a job. My wife has flown with me several times now but still gets pretty nervous. I suction mount my ipad mini on longer flights so I have her point out landmarks, cities, lakes, etc..., adjust the transponder for me, dial in radio stations on the ADF :), etc... She pays pretty good attention to the radio too. I had ATC hand me off and give me a new frequency and I dialed it in wrong and she immediately corrected me once I took my hand off the radio and tried to transmit.

At some point between now and when I start flying a lot more once the kids start leaving I'm going to get her to work with a CFI so she feels like she can handle the plane from the right seat if anything ever happens to me. I think once she does that and doesn't feel 'helpless' over there she'll be a great co-pilot...especially once I'm IFR and could use a hand changing radios, etc...

Fun times. I'll do what I can to make it up to Hard 8. It would be 12:30 to 1pm at the very earliest before I could get up there.
 
CTLSi said:
Professionally done. You may have created a new student pilot.
Click to expand...

HAHA I doubt that but I'm super proud of her for taking the initiative...I didn't coax her into it at all. I didn't show it in the video but she was pretty much balling on the climb out...her husband and I literally had to keep reminding her to breathe. It didn't help that it was bumpy as hell either so I had to keep reminding her that was normal and OK and we weren't going to die.

I think I feel most proud though that she trusted me enough to be the one she did this with, especially since with my ~160 hours...I'm not a veteran pilot by any definition.
 
kenjr said:
I'll do what I can to make it up to Hard 8. It would be 12:30 to 1pm at the very earliest before I could get up there.
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Hard8 will be an evening thing... I'll know more about arrival time once I coordinate with Tyler (TangoCharlie) and Bryan (SixPappaChalie)
 
That's great. Nice work.
 
I'm down with that - I need to get night current again anyway. :)
 
kenjr said:
....I didn't show it in the video but she was pretty much balling on the climb out...her husband and I literally had to keep reminding her to breathe.....
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I'm sure we'd all like to see this part of the video. :)

I mean, as a learning experience, you know, so we know how to handle freaked out pax and all. Not for entertainment value.
 
I love the contrast.
The fear in the beginning is palpable and that smile at touchdown is just awesome.
 
That was awesome! Thanks for posting!

I love watching vids of people enjoying flight. Makes me look forward to starting my own training in a few months.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I love the contrast.
The fear in the beginning is palpable and that smile at touchdown is just awesome.
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HAHA yeah, "...that was way better than a big airplane...".

I had to rub that in to one of my Partners in the plane...who happens to be a retired SWA Captain. :)
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I love the contrast.
The fear in the beginning is palpable and that smile at touchdown is just awesome.
Click to expand...

I'm with Bryan. I could "feel" the fear at the start of the video (I noticed myself getting tense just watching the video) and then also felt the relief after the landing. Great video!
 
Nice work. You did a good job keeping her calm. I hate pilots who don't think about their passengers and you certainly are not one of them. Thanks for the video.
 
Thanks guys! I'm not sure which brings me more happiness...flying/being a pilot...or...situations like this...helping someone else see the joy in aviation.

Sure, she's never going to get her pilots license and all that...but she'll fly with me again...hopefully many times and get more and more comfortable each time we go and ultimately conquer her fear.

That's pretty powerful. I'm sure you all of you that have been in the same boat understand. There's nothing like someone who is deathly afraid of flying trusting you with their life...and then they end up loving it because you ensured that they had a great experience.

I look forward to the next one... :)
 
Nice, Man...these situations don't always work out so well...some of these fears can have very deep roots and all the comforting explanations can't always overcome the fear. But I am glad to see for her it was successful. you did a good job.
 
Nice job! This Saturday I took a friend along with me to Oklahoma for his first GA experience. He handled it well also, and asked a lot of questions, the last one being "when can we go again".
 
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