Height / age requirement for right seat PAX?

[MetalCloud]

Is there such a thing? Or is it a judgement call on the part of the PIC?

 

[ollopa]

Uhh only when these are placed on the ramp. Otherwise it's a judgment call.

 

[MetalCloud]

Ha!! Awesome! Thank you

 

[Brad Z]

I had my 14 month old up front for a few moments on our long flight back from Florida yesterday. Needless to say he was fascinated by all of the switches and knobs. It didn't take long for me to pass him back to the wife in the backseat.

 

[Unit74]

Mine are not tall enough. Front seat, they get vertigo. Back seat they have a better view outside. Once they can se over the panel, they can have shotgun.

 

[mscard88]

I'll rent a C-152 when I take my 5 year old grandson up. Easier for him to fly and see outside. He loves it.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

Da nephew learned to fly by instruments because he was too short (at the time) to see over the glare shield.

 

[MauleSkinner]

Child seats can interfere with the controls, but if you use an alternative means, let 'em fly. My nephew made a perfect wheel landing in my Maule when he was 2 1/2.

 

[MAKG1]

I give kids the controls all the time, but most of them are CAP cadets and must be at least 12. It's real hard for a 12 year old to see over the panel of a 182.

I find the smaller kids are much happier in a 152 (but I'm not -- I can't sit up straight in one without opening the window), but a 177 Cardinal is not far behind.

The only safety issue with small children in the front is, can they be trusted to stay off the controls when told to? That's a judgment call with a lot of variability. The view is very often somewhat better in back. It's not like a car.

Edit: I should mention, I've only had one instance where a kid couldn't keep off the controls. And it was a 14 year old CAP cadet. I suspect ADHD. It SUCKS when someone else stabs at the rudders during approach. I had one other instance where an older adult couldn't keep his paws off on short final (also CAP -- and he was subsequently thrown out for multiple safety violations including that one).

 

[MetalCloud]

Holy crap @MAKG1 ! Yeah that's a little scary. My daughters won't do that.

 

[MAKG1]

Holy crap @MAKG1 ! Yeah that's a little scary. My daughters won't do that.

The trick with a problematic kid is to make him slide the seat all the way back and put his hands palms up in his lap so I can see them. He did his "trick" at 2000 feet going into Class C. He was not allowed to fly again.

The adult fortunately didn't put much pressure on the controls, so I landed normally -- on a long, wide runway (KFAT).

I've never had a safety problem with younger kids, though the "I gotta pee" statement at 5000 feet does get your attention.

 

[Caramon13]

The trick with a problematic kid is to make him slide the seat all the way back and put his hands palms up in his lap so I can see them. He did his "trick" at 2000 feet going into Class C. He was not allowed to fly again.

The adult fortunately didn't put much pressure on the controls, so I landed normally -- on a long, wide runway (KFAT).

I've never had a safety problem with younger kids, though the "I gotta pee" statement at 5000 feet does get your attention.

I had one case on a Young Eagles flight. A kid who won the rock/paper/scissors against the other 2 got to sit up front. We were cruising over the key and I was showing how the controls work. I asked the kid to "gently" pull back (while keeping my hands near the yoke) to go up, etc. He did good.

Immediately afterwards he started rocking the yoke back and forth abruptly, subsequently terrifying the other two in the back before I could grab it away from him. Ride was over at that point. I think that's the shortest YE flight I've been on.

I've had others where we go looking for their house, etc. Mostly good experiences but I am much more careful about who sits right seat with me when more than one kid goes up. The kid who insists on wearing his Halo helmet on the flight can go sit in the back for example ...heh..

 

[FredFenster]

I've taken my 3 (almost 4) year old with me a few times in the front seat. She likes it a lot better than the back, and with the seat fully back and her car seat in the front she can't really reach anything. She can just barely touch the yoke with her toes, but I've been telling her every time before we land that we're landing and she needs to be quiet and her feet have to stay down.

If it wasn't my kid, they'd be in the back though.

 

[Sundancer]

Angelina Jolie (or clone). Otherwise, I fly alone. Will accept Ashley Judd as a suitable substitute - it's really, really hard to get a BFR, as you would expect. . .