Personal Milestone Flight! 6/24/12

flightwriter

flightwriter

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Rob Finfrock
So far in my nascent pilot career, I'd only flown with an instructor, or solo, or with a pilot-rated passenger... but until today, I had never been responsible for a non-pilot passenger's safe return to terra firma.

Until today!

My mother was willing (and excited) to be my first-ever "real" passenger, and of course I was thrilled to have her along! 1.6 hours from Santa Fe, NM out to Cabezon Peak and back.
 

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And the obligatory question: Will she fly with you again?

Seriously, congratulations!

-Skip
 
Congrats on the first successful passenger trip. Great that your mother got to experience it with you.
 
Skip Miller said:
And the obligatory question: Will she fly with you again?

Seriously, congratulations!

-Skip
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:rofl: Yep! She was even more excited than I was afterwards. (It helped that I absolutely greased the landing.)
 
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Cool. My mother was also my first passenger. Congratulations! :thumbsup:
 
Congratulations! and to Mom, too, for having a son she can be so proud of.
 
My first passenger was a non-pilot. I have had VERY few since that day. It is kind of different knowing you are the only one on the plane who can land.


EDIT: I always have passengers, every flight in fact, but the are either pilots or CFI's.
 
It was more than twenty years after I got my Private that my mother came up with me, and it was a flight to Santa Fe. The rest of the family had flown within a year or two of my checkride.

Welcome to the NM aviation community.

Jon
 
4CornerFlyer said:
It was more than twenty years after I got my Private that my mother came up with me. The rest of the family did it within a year or two.

Welcome to the NM aviation community.

Jon
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My Mom said it would take about that long before she would go up with me. She is scared to death of flying and wants me to gain more experience.
 
Hmm, I took the wife and kid in a loaded-to-almost-gross 172M to HAF for the first flight. Conditions were great at departure, though the aircraft climbed a bit, umm, lethargically. It got over the pass fine.

But it was a mixing bowl in the pattern over HAF. No one threw up, but the family insisted on a break at the 3-0 Cafe after just a 20 minute flight. Wind was fairly steady on the ground, but in the opposite direction as aloft. And I thumped the landing in a bit since HAF has a much wider runway than I had trained on.

We had a much better flight a few weeks later up to Pt. Reyes and Petaluma, in a 172N with a 180 HP conversion (not loaded anywhere near max gross). They wanted a break there, too, but that was after more than an hour and they wanted to watch the ultralights and get a snack at the 29er Diner.

I took my dad from Livermore to Hollister a few months later after picking up the same 172M from its 100-hour and doing the obligatory once-around-the-pattern. Of course I pointed out the cumulus forming over the ridgetops and explained it meant bumpy air. It wasn't that bad, but definitely noticeable, and Dad didn't complain at all. Landing was pretty good, but I had to dodge some idiot in a Pitts doing aerobatics in the middle of the SJC approach corridor (outside Class C, so it's legal, but stupid) on the way back. Mom hasn't been in the aircraft with me yet -- I think access is going to be an issue.
 
MAKG1 said:
Hmm, I took the wife and kid in a loaded-to-almost-gross 172M to HAF for the first flight. Conditions were great at departure, though the aircraft climbed a bit, umm, lethargically. It got over the pass fine.

But it was a mixing bowl in the pattern over HAF. No one threw up, but the family insisted on a break at the 3-0 Cafe after just a 20 minute flight. Wind was fairly steady on the ground, but in the opposite direction as aloft. And I thumped the landing in a bit since HAF has a much wider runway than I had trained on.

We had a much better flight a few weeks later up to Pt. Reyes and Petaluma, in a 172N with a 180 HP conversion (not loaded anywhere near max gross). They wanted a break there, too, but that was after more than an hour and they wanted to watch the ultralights and get a snack at the 29er Diner.

I took my dad from Livermore to Hollister a few months later after picking up the same 172M from its 100-hour and doing the obligatory once-around-the-pattern. Of course I pointed out the cumulus forming over the ridgetops and explained it meant bumpy air. It wasn't that bad, but definitely noticeable, and Dad didn't complain at all. Landing was pretty good, but I had to dodge some idiot in a Pitts doing aerobatics in the middle of the SJC approach corridor (outside Class C, so it's legal, but stupid) on the way back. Mom hasn't been in the aircraft with me yet -- I think access is going to be an issue.
Click to expand...

You guys were in Petaluma and didn't say "hi" ???
 
John221us said:
Greasing the landing... The flying gods were smiling on you :)
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Yes indeed... and I hope I remain in their graces this weekend, when I take a friend of mine down to AEG for breakfast and back. Twice the number of landings, twice the fun!

AuntPeggy said:
Congratulations! and to Mom, too, for having a son she can be so proud of.
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Aww, thanks. (I have an Aunt Peggy, so your posts always stand out to me.)

kimberlyanne546 said:
My first passenger was a non-pilot. I have had VERY few since that day. It is kind of different knowing you are the only one on the plane who can land.
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It really is a different feeling! Not frightening or intimidating, just a brief "wow... huh" moment.

4CornerFlyer said:
It was more than twenty years after I got my Private that my mother came up with me, and it was a flight to Santa Fe. The rest of the family had flown within a year or two of my checkride.

Welcome to the NM aviation community.
Click to expand...

Thanks! It's good to be here.
 
flightwriter said:
My mother was willing (and excited) to be my first-ever "real" passenger, and of course I was thrilled to have her along! 1.6 hours from Santa Fe, NM out to Cabezon Peak and back.
Click to expand...
Congrats on your first pasenger flight! My Mom was my first passenger too. She loved it. That was back in the 80's. I had bought a 1976 C-150 M. That same day I tried to take my Dad flying too, but he did not like flying and declined. I now fly a Cherokee and my Mom always wanted me to take her up in the Cherokee. Unfortunately by this time she had gotten feeble enough that I thought it too risky for her to climb up the wing and crawl down into the passenger seat. In the Cherokee the pilot has to get in first and slide over the passenger seat to the pilot seat. I was afraid that if we were able to get her in we might not be able to get her back out. Mom passed away on 6/8/12. Your post brought back wonderful memories of when I was able to take her flying. Even at 87 she would have loved to go flying with me if she had been mobile enough. Enjoy those flights with your Mom now. Life passes by faster than you realize.
 
I don't think my mom has ever flown with me. hmm???
 
MickYoumans said:
Congrats on your first pasenger flight! My Mom was my first passenger too. She loved it. That was back in the 80's. I had bought a 1976 C-150 M. That same day I tried to take my Dad flying too, but he did not like flying and declined. I now fly a Cherokee and my Mom always wanted me to take her up in the Cherokee. Unfortunately by this time she had gotten feeble enough that I thought it too risky for her to climb up the wing and crawl down into the passenger seat. In the Cherokee the pilot has to get in first and slide over the passenger seat to the pilot seat. I was afraid that if we were able to get her in we might not be able to get her back out. Mom passed away on 6/8/12. Your post brought back wonderful memories of when I was able to take her flying. Even at 87 she would have loved to go flying with me if she had been mobile enough. Enjoy those flights with your Mom now. Life passes by faster than you realize.
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Thank you for sharing, Mick, and my condolences on your loss.
 
I flew with my mom...all of .1 hours on the tach, once around the pattern. I got several exclamations of "JAMES WHAT'S THAT SMELL" and "JAMES WHAT'S THAT BUMP." Fun times. I still have yet to convince her to go up with me again...and it wasn't a bad landing either!
 
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