Permission for minors to fly

Lance F

Lance F

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Lance F
I mentor 9 & 10 year old brothers. I took them to the airport for the first time Saturday. They had a lot of fun sitting in some planes and seeing some operations. An RV and Ercoupe even made a low pass or two for them.

Obviously the next step is to give 'em a ride. So what do I do? Obviously I need their mother's permission (no father or other male in their lives). But to protect myself do I need to get this in writing? Is there a standard form I can download somewhere?
 
Doubt the form would do much good - if something happens they're going to take you for whatever they can (at least that's the best way to look at it). Just a matter of making sure you have the appropriate levels of insurance to make the risk worthwhile for you.

But I'm far far far from a lawyer. They usually say the opposite of what I think.
 
Lance F said:
I mentor 9 & 10 year old brothers. I took them to the airport for the first time Saturday. They had a lot of fun sitting in some planes and seeing some operations. An RV and Ercoupe even made a low pass or two for them.

Obviously the next step is to give 'em a ride. So what do I do? Obviously I need their mother's permission (no father or other male in their lives). But to protect myself do I need to get this in writing? Is there a standard form I can download somewhere?
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Probably be good to look at a Young Eagles permission form and modify it to suit, however I'm not sure what you think it will accomplish besides keeping you out of jail for kidnapping.
 
Join EAA and do it under the Young Eagles program. You're required to have insurance (I forget the limits), but EAA picks up after that and keeps you from being bankrupt if the worst happens and you're around afterwards. Also, why not take Mama or another responsible adult along? That gives you a witness if <hate to say this>, someone ever accuses you of groping a kid or something.
 
I suppose if I had to question that much what I needed to do to give someone a ride, I wouldn't give them a ride.
 
Without question you need the parent's permission to take a minor child flying, and if you aren't close to the parent, preferably in writing so you don't wind up in criminal court later even if nothing goes wrong. As to the form and content of such written permission, you need competent legal advice from an attorney licensed in your state.

The other issue commonly discussed is a "hold harmless" agreement to keep you from getting sued if the kid gets hurt. Generally speaking, in the case of children, there is little you can do to protect yourself from being sued in that event, and in some states (like New York), nothing at all you can do. Again, ask a lawyer, but if you fly safe and play by the rules, it's not likely you'll have a problem in this regard.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I suppose if I had to question that much what I needed to do to give someone a ride, I wouldn't give them a ride.
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That's my normal reaction to such things. Maybe I'll just go with a verbal ok, assuming I can even get that. I doubt that mama, grandma or aunti, whom they live with, have ever been in any kind of plane.
 
Lance F said:
That's my normal reaction to such things. Maybe I'll just go with a verbal ok, assuming I can even get that. I doubt that mama, grandma or aunti, whom they live with, have ever been in any kind of plane.
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Offer to have them along. Some will decline but some will enjoy sharing the experience with their kids.
 
Lance F said:
That's my normal reaction to such things. Maybe I'll just go with a verbal ok, assuming I can even get that. I doubt that mama, grandma or aunti, whom they live with, have ever been in any kind of plane.
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I figured as much. We tend to think alike in this manner. :)
 
Lance F said:
I mentor 9 & 10 year old brothers. I took them to the airport for the first time Saturday. They had a lot of fun sitting in some planes and seeing some operations. An RV and Ercoupe even made a low pass or two for them.

Obviously the next step is to give 'em a ride. So what do I do? Obviously I need their mother's permission (no father or other male in their lives). But to protect myself do I need to get this in writing? Is there a standard form I can download somewhere?
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Depends on how well you know the mother. As long as this was someone I knew to be fairly rational, I'd just ask for verbal permission, if not then written consent with a witness. If you don't crash she won't have anything to come after you about beyond forbidding further contact, if you do even notarized written consent wouldn't prevent a civil suit.
 
kyleb said:
Join EAA and do it under the Young Eagles program. You're required to have insurance (I forget the limits), but EAA picks up after that and keeps you from being bankrupt if the worst happens and you're around afterwards. Also, why not take Mama or another responsible adult along? That gives you a witness if <hate to say this>, someone ever accuses you of groping a kid or something.
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You need to carry $100K and the EAA will bump it up to a smooth million.
 
kyleb said:
Also, why not take Mama or another responsible adult along? That gives you a witness if <hate to say this>, someone ever accuses you of groping a kid or something.
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If Lance is mentoring the kids he probably already spends time with them not in the presence of their mom/aunt/grandma etc. Just guessing, though.
 
When I was taking schoolkids (and teachers) for rides I had a stock permission slip for parents to sign giving permission and stating that these rides were on a non-commercial basis, by a Private Pilot at no charge and without liability, and was unrelated to the airline that was my employer at the time.

Probably wouldn't have stood up in court but it let everyone know where I stood.

Every kid (and teacher) I took up had a fantastic time and loved the experience. I have no idea if I contributed to a future aviation career. But I did get some wonderful thank-you letters that are quite heartwarming to this day.
 
Mason said:
When I was taking schoolkids (and teachers) for rides I had a stock permission slip for parents to sign giving permission and stating that these rides were on a non-commercial basis, by a Private Pilot at no charge and without liability, and was unrelated to the airline that was my employer at the time.

Probably wouldn't have stood up in court but it let everyone know where I stood.
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The liability part almost certainly would not, but the permission part probably would keep you from getting charged with child endangerment or custodial interference or kidnapping or the like, especially if the parents were separated or divorced and you got stuck in the middle when the second parent found out.
 
Lance, get the parent of guardian to sign Young Eagle applications and bring them to LZU on Saturday.
 
EppyGA said:
Lance, get the parent of guardian to sign Young Eagle applications and bring them to LZU on Saturday.
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That's a great offer, but to get to LZU I would want to fly them :rofl: .
Mase, any way you could send me a copy of that permission slip you used?

Frankly I don't want to take Mom. I have only very briefly met her. One of the main ideas of this mentoring is to get a positive male influence in their lives. It would kind of defeat the purpose, if I had to involve her.

I meet the boys at their school once a week. That contact is covered by the non profit that organizes this mentoring. They make clear that anything I do outside of the school is on my own and not part of the mentoring organization. That's why I asked the question about formalizing the permission. I took them to breakfast and to the airport with a verbal ok. Actually flying them just seemed to be going to a different level.
 
Ron Levy said:
The liability part almost certainly would not, but the permission part probably would keep you from getting charged with child endangerment or custodial interference or kidnapping or the like, especially if the parents were separated or divorced and you got stuck in the middle when the second parent found out.
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That really is the primary reason you want a permission slip. Between the aviation and minor peculiarities in tort law, you can pretty much forget the liability aspect of it besides the psychological one that will keep the suit from happening in the first place. Once the suit is filed, it may as well be toilet paper. It will keep you out of handcuffs though.
 
Lance F said:
That's my normal reaction to such things. Maybe I'll just go with a verbal ok, assuming I can even get that. I doubt that mama, grandma or aunti, whom they live with, have ever been in any kind of plane.
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I'm sort of informal guy but I'd probably send a Email and hopefully get a response.

I'd probably trust the Verbal OK if I trust the people.
 
The only time I asked I was taking a minor girl from So Cal to Salt Lake to visit her dad, I didn't know him at all and was doing it as a favor to a gal I was just familiar with from the airport, I just happened to be going. I had another pax as well to keep any other accusations at bay. Outside of that I just load and go.
 
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