one for one

eman1200

eman1200

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Mar 10, 2013
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Oakland, CA
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Bro do you even lift
Asked my buddy to take a flight with me, got what appears to be a somewhat typical response...."Well, I have a 4yr old and another baby on the way, yadda yadda yadda...". I'm thinking, I didn't ask if u wanted to fly into a mountainside, just a regular flight....with landing and all.

Oh well, it would be nice to share with people, but F em if they don't wanna go. I mean that in the nicest way possible.
 
It is kind of like asking is he want's a ride on the back of your motorcycle. Same statistics.
 
Yeah, I probably wouldn't go either. No offense, but I rode with a fresh PPL holder once... Not doing that again. I have to have a pretty good idea that you're a better pilot than myself before I'll ride with you. Aside from the one guy, everyone else I've ever ridden with holds a CFI rating at least.
 
We were all fresh PPLs at one time. I find that a lot of people fear what they don't know or don't understand. Simply put, a lot of people are just scared of flying and it has nothing to do with you personally. I usually start by asking if they like to fly in small planes. If I get a response that shows interest, then I will offer them a ride or put them on my list of friends to call when I'm going up in the future. If they are not interested, no big deal, there are plenty of other people that are ready to jump at the chance.
 
Way back when I was a primary student learning how to fly, all my family and friends were fully supportive of my endeavor and all said they'd love to go flying with me once I got my pilot certificate and my own airplane. After finally achieving those two things, the only family who would eagerly go flying with me were my dad and one sister, the rest chickened out. My dad passed away a few years ago from cancer, so that now only leaves one family member who likes to fly. Of all my friends, about 99% of them chickened out too. The only friends I have who are eager to fly are other "airplane people". I've been flying for about 15 incident-free years now with over 1200 hours logged and I've found out that the overwhelming vast majority of "regular ordinary" people are frightened to death of flying in a small aircraft and have zero interest in learning or understanding what small aircraft aviation is really all about... they've already learned "all they need to know about small aircraft" from TV, movies, and the news. :mad2:
 
Oh I agree that for the most part its peoples fear of flying, not fear of flying with me per se.
 
I have the opposite problem.

People asking me to take them up. And I am the one making the argument: "I have a wife and kids at home and they are tired of me being gone." I have to use that excuse because the truth "this is making me poor" gets the response "I will pay you" which is another dilemma they don't understand.

I need 3 or 4 flying buddies and the rest of my friends to be scared of flying.
 
Before we condemn these nonpassengers ask ourselves who here would ride in a seat without controls with a brand new PPL?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
People asking me to take them up. And I am the one making the argument: "I have a wife and kids at home and they are tired of me being gone." I have to use that excuse because the truth "this is making me poor" gets the response "I will pay you" which is another dilemma they don't understand.
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I usually make some tongue in cheek comment like, if they want to store their fuel in my gas tank, who am I to stop them. ;) The real reality is that it is very rare for anyone to offer to even help on the gas cost. Even if they paid for all of the gas, the cost per hour to opperate the plane in addition to the gas is not trivial. It would seem easy to me to make the case that you are not opperating the plane for profit, but just sharring expenses. If I am looking at this wrong, someone please help me out.
 
LoL!

Even with the spiffy-looking new RV-6, it's hard to find any "non airplane" people who want to go flying.

And I still can't find a damn tent that matches the plane.
IMG_7485.JPG
 
Never changes.

The only time people care if I have an airplane is when they want me to haul them and usually more crap than they could bring on Southwest somewhere for free. If they don't have that need they would rather sit home and watch Law and Order reruns than go flying.
 
eman1200 said:
Asked my buddy to take a flight with me, got what appears to be a somewhat typical response...."Well, I have a 4yr old and another baby on the way, yadda yadda yadda...". I'm thinking, I didn't ask if u wanted to fly into a mountainside, just a regular flight....with landing and all.

Oh well, it would be nice to share with people, but F em if they don't wanna go. I mean that in the nicest way possible.
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Funny, but that's what goes thru my head before offering to take some young parent(s) flying.

Neal Howard said:
Even with the spiffy-looking new RV-6, it's hard to find any "non airplane" people who want to go flying.

And I still can't find a damn tent that matches the plane.
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Very spiffy! That's a really nice red on it. Keep the tent, it's the contrast that counts.
 
MAKG1 said:
Ow. My eyes hurt.

Who stole the glideslope shed and made a Cherokee out of it?
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When I first met Neal on the DFWPilot's forum, his handle was......Checkerbird!
 
Concorde said:
That is a nice looking RV !
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Thanks!

MAKG1 said:
Ow. My eyes hurt.

Who stole the glideslope shed and made a Cherokee out of it?
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It was painted that way in 1973 to be a banner towing plane on Long Island, NY.

I bought it in 2001 dirt cheap with a brand new engine, prop, and decent radios. In 2005 I sold it, and it was repainted by the new owner. I bought it back in 2006 and sold it again in 2011. This is what it looks like now. Hard to believe its the same airplane. It's still based at my home airport too
100122.jpg
 
I had this problem a lot... especially trying to take my ex-girlfriend flying since her mom forbid her from doing so (even on commercial jets).

Personally I respect their beliefs and opinions because there are certainly things I wouldn't want to do and plenty of pilots I wouldn't fly with myself :D
 
I solved this problem by buying a single-seater.

Actually there was this one case when I took a guy along in a rental Cherokee to split expense. I flew up leg, he flew back. On our first landing together he pulled up on the yoke, I pushed on the yoke, and we struggled for a second while the airplane slammed the runway, fortunately on the mains. I was in the left seat. Apparently the way I land Cherokees scared the pants off of him, so he grabbed the yoke. Next time I swore that I'll flare in time and he didn't need to worry, but still that was pretty funny. Good thing we didn't end with wheelbarrowing and a prop strike.
 
I think it's just a part of our curriculum of 24 hour a day news channels with streaming horror clips and flashing ALERT graphics - the society we have evolved into. These days people are just plain afraid of EVERYTHING. Forty years ago when the news came on for half an hour twice a day it wasn't like this.

The "terrorists" won, we are officially terrified :hairraise:
 
You can't take it personally. Truth of the matter is that flying small planes is dangerous. Like others have said it's statistically on par with riding a motorcycle. The first thing my coworker (former motorcycle racer) says when someone asks him about buying a motorcycle is, "motorcycles are dangerous." I think it's ok to acknowledge reality and then set about doing your best to improve your own personal odds.

All my passengers (except a brother-in-law) have offered to share expenses and I've gladly accepted. Maybe it's because all the conversations while I was trainining went something like this :

me, "I've been taking flying lesosns."
them, "Isn't that expensive?"
me, "yes, it is, but it's a lot of fun."

Again, you gotta acknowledge reality and deal with it.

eman1200 said:
Asked my buddy to take a flight with me, got what appears to be a somewhat typical response...."Well, I have a 4yr old and another baby on the way, yadda yadda yadda...". I'm thinking, I didn't ask if u wanted to fly into a mountainside, just a regular flight....with landing and all.

Oh well, it would be nice to share with people, but F em if they don't wanna go. I mean that in the nicest way possible.
Click to expand...
 
eman1200 said:
Oh well, it would be nice to share with people, but F em if they don't wanna go. I mean that in the nicest way possible.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you're joking, but that's a poor attitude.

Not everyone will share your passions, just like you may not share their fears - or even phobias.

I virtually always invite new friends up for a local flight. Some are just not interested, and quite fearful of small planes. Some overcome some level of trepidation to give it a try. But I never try to convince them to fly.

Similarly, on Young Eagle flights I always tell the prospect that we can return to the airport any time if they don't like what's going on, or even taxi back in if they change their minds. This had not happened yet, though a couple candidates have looked at the Sky Arrow and opted to go up for their first time in something larger and/or more conventional (C172, Bonanza, whatever.)

I guess an analogy for me would be skydiving. I simply have a fear of jumping out of a plane (probably more the falling part), and overcoming that fear is not on my bucket list in this lifetime. If invited for a day of skydiving I would politely decline, and would not appreciate continued efforts to convince me otherwise. Statistics on the relative safety of it would not sway me in the least - as I doubt similar statistics on flying would sway anyone with a genuine fear of flying.
 
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zaitcev said:
I solved this problem by buying a single-seater.
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Exactly. I have no interest in taking someone else's life into my hands. If something were to happen and we die, I'll be in Heaven, but I don't want my estate tied up in litigation. My opinion might change later as my confidence grows. When I am a licensed Pilot, there's going to be a pretty thin list of passengers and that will only be because they insist on flying with me and are well aware of the risk.
BTW, thanks to you, Pete, that Carlson Sparrow is on my short list. :thumbsup:
 
Marvin, you already have a leg up on most new pilots. Keep on thinking right.

I do not offer plane rides to people. In fact when "Oh you have a plane!" comes up, I change the subject of the conversation.
First off, they are not really interested in becoming a pilot. Only in doing something novel, once, for cheap, that they can brag about with their buddies at the golf course as they slowly get hammered - while spending the price of an hour of dual. Money they say they can't afford for taking flying lessons. Since they don't care, why should I?

Pete, your observation mirrors my own experience. Hauling back on the yoke with the plane still 10 feet in the air and then going catatonic as the plane crashes to the ground with a bang, is so common it should be on the back of the One Dollar bill. They don't fly the plane - they drive it.
 
FastEddieB said:
I'm pretty sure you're joking, but that's a poor attitude.

Not everyone will share your passions, just like you may not share their fears - or even phobias.

I virtually always invite new friends up for a local flight. Some are just not interested, and quite fearful of small planes. Some overcome some level of trepidation to give it a try. But I never try to convince them to fly.

Similarly, on Young Eagle flights I always tell the prospect that we can return to the airport any time if they don't like what's going on, or even taxi back in if they change their minds. This had not happened yet, though a couple candidates have looked at the Sky Arrow and opted to go up for their first time in something larger and/or more conventional (C172, Bonanza, whatever.)

I guess an analogy for me would be skydiving. I simply have a fear of jumping out of a plane (probably more the falling part), and overcoming that fear is not on my bucket list in this lifetime. If invited for a day of skydiving I would politely decline, and would not appreciate continued efforts to convince me otherwise. Statistics on the relative safety of it would not sway me in the least - as I doubt similar statistics on flying would sway anyone with a genuine fear of flying.
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Well said. My sentiments exactly re skydiving. I don't like falling:no:
 
Dr. O said:
I do not offer plane rides to people. In fact when "Oh you have a plane!" comes up, I change the subject of the conversation.
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Funny the different mindsets here.

I enjoy sharing the passion.

Then again, a few tenths in my Sky Arrow at 5 gph of MOGAS is a pretty trivial expense, and I kinda like any excuse to fly.

If its been more than a couple weeks and I need to get the rust off the cylinders, why not take someone along?

But I do respect the differing points of view here - otherwise it would be a pretty boring world!
 
redtail said:
Well said. My sentiments exactly re skydiving. I don't like falling:no:
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It's funny.

I would say that I have a mild fear of heights. I do NOT enjoy climbing the ladder onto the roof of my house, for instance.

I thought that was odd for a pilot, but I recall a column, possibly by Richard Collins, stating that fear of heights was relatively common among pilots.

I don't know if that's true, or what the nexus might be.

Maybe people scared of heights seek out flying to compensate for that fear?

In any case, I rarely get much of a feeling of height in small planes. Once in while when I was flying instruments I would suddenly punch out of a cloud bank, and that would give that startled feeling of sudden height. Playing around in Monument Valley and flying low over a mesa and having it drop away also can give that feeling. But I almost have to seek it out now.
 
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FastEddieB said:
It's funny.

I would say that I have a mild fear of heights. I do NOT enjoy climbing the ladder onto the roof of my house, for instance.

I thought that was odd for a pilot, but I recall a column, possible by Richard Collins, stating that fear of heights was relatively common among pilots.

I don't know if that's true, or what the nexus might be.

Maybe people scared of heights seek out flying to compensate for that fear?

In any case, I rarely get much of a feeling of height in small planes. Once in while when I was flying instruments I would suddenly punch out of a cloud bank, and that would give that startled feeling of sudden height. Playing around in Monument Valley and flying low over a mesa and having it drop away also can give that feeling. But I almost have to seek it out now.
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Funny you mentioned ladders and roofs,lol. As a teen, I used to help my dad with things around the house. Well, we had a leaky roof every winter when the snow would melt into the built-in wooden gutters. We went up to make repairs a few times and he'd walk all around the A-frame roof with ease, as if it was flat. I was practically terrified to get off of the ladder onto the roof.

Dad was in his 60's! When I did manage to dismount that ladder, I could barely walk around. I kept bending over like I needed something to grab hold to:lol:. Yet I've never felt afraid of heights per se:confused: Chicken:rofl:
 
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All depends on what you are standing on. I hate ladders, Used to BASE jump. Met more then a few Basejumpers who don't like being near the edge of things. Jumping off is ok, loitering on the edge not so much.
FastEddieB said:
It's funny.

I would say that I have a mild fear of heights. I do NOT enjoy climbing the ladder onto the roof of my house, for instance.

I thought that was odd for a pilot, but I recall a column, possibly by Richard Collins, stating that fear of heights was relatively common among pilots.

I don't know if that's true, or what the nexus might be.

Maybe people scared of heights seek out flying to compensate for that fear?

In any case, I rarely get much of a feeling of height in small planes. Once in while when I was flying instruments I would suddenly punch out of a cloud bank, and that would give that startled feeling of sudden height. Playing around in Monument Valley and flying low over a mesa and having it drop away also can give that feeling. But I almost have to seek it out now.
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This is all just part of the human condition. We were all once afraid to stand up, ride a bike, etc. When we are motivated we can overcome those fears to the point that it's just another day at the office. Take someone new to a climbing gym, they get 20-30' in the air, run out of strength and fall off. The first time they are trying to hold on for dear life, after a few times it's just part of the fun.

My favorite is the picture of the 1930's iron workers in NY eating lunch on an I-beam hundreds of feet up, that always gets people.

This one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_atop_a_Skyscraper
 
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