Post checkride First flight and passenger. The WIFE!

CARLOS W

CARLOS W

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Dec 29, 2016
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Wild2fly
Well today was my first official flight as a liscensed private pilot! Also it was the first a passenger ( the wife) . She has never been in a small plane and also as some of you remember was not supportive at all. So I picked a smooth evening for a sunset flight of downtown San Antonio. It was a very smooth and beautiful flight. It was the First Time I really just enjoyed it. Watching my wife enjoying it meant the world to me. It made everything worth it. God I loved it.
 

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Your wife looks like she belongs in a cockpit!

Congratulations and good job of making it a positive experience for her
 
That is so awesome Carlos! I remember. And you picked perfect conditions for her first flight with you, The Pilot! Beautiful lady, beautiful couple, on a beautiful flight together.
 
mscard88 said:
That is so awesome Carlos! I remember. And you picked perfect conditions for her first flight with you, The Pilot! Beautiful lady, beautiful couple, on a beautiful flight together.
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Thx!
 
Love it! Congrats. It just keeps getting better from here.
 
Congrats!

It really makes it fun when the Bride enjoys flying. Your good planning and the sunset flight seems to have sealed the deal. It also helps when you fly to some destinations they like too.
 
mscard88 said:
Now don't blow it on the next flight and scare her. You have to ease her into the bumpier and windy days. ;)
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Lol.. yup.. next flight might be to T82 in the morning for breakfast.
 
CARLOS W said:
Well today was my first official flight as a liscensed private pilot! Also it was the first a passenger ( the wife) . She has never been in a small plane and also as some of you remember was not supportive at all. So I picked a smooth evening for a sunset flight of downtown San Antonio. It was a very smooth and beautiful flight. It was the First Time I really just enjoyed it. Watching my wife enjoying it meant the world to me. It made everything worth it. God I loved it.
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Nice touch with the sunset flight. Is she making 'I wanna fly' sounds yet?
 
Or Waco.. she's been wanting to go to magnolia store. Lol
 
Maybe next flight you can demonstrate a power on stall for her.......I think she's ready ;)
 
Freakin awesome!!!! Congrats!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Nice...how did you finally get he to change her mind?

My wife won't even look at the plane from a distance.
 
CARLOS W said:
Well today was my first official flight as a liscensed private pilot! Also it was the first a passenger ( the wife) . She has never been in a small plane and also as some of you remember was not supportive at all. So I picked a smooth evening for a sunset flight of downtown San Antonio. It was a very smooth and beautiful flight. It was the First Time I really just enjoyed it. Watching my wife enjoying it meant the world to me. It made everything worth it. God I loved it.
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Nice job
 
That's great! Glad to hear it ( I remember too that you mentioned that).

But now you have me worried. As I mentioned in your other post, my wife has been super supportive and really eager to go on a flight when I get my certificate. Now I'm wondering if it will be the reverse effect from your experience!
 
LongRoadBob said:
That's great! Glad to hear it ( I remember too that you mentioned that).

But now you have me worried. As I mentioned in your other post, my wife has been super supportive and really eager to go on a flight when I get my certificate. Now I'm wondering if it will be the reverse effect from your experience!
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Nope. She will love it. Just take it slow like Carlos and fly her on a smooth day. Better fly somewhere for dinner. That'll earn you a lot of points. :D
 
Carlos,
How did you convince her to go? I have yet to get my wife to go near the plane. Over 2 years with my PPL and can't get her to even sit in the thing. Kids all love it.

JD
 
Congrats! Always good to have the wife on board with the flying habit!

It looks like you already have some good trips thought out. Have some fun planning (and then going out on) date nights or afternoon outings to fun places that involve a plane trip to get there. Things like that will get the better half excited about all the doors GA opens up to you.

Fly enough and maybe she'll start asking "why don't we just buy our own plane?" :D
 
I got my license just a few months before I started dating my now wife and she wouldn't get into a plane with me until almost a year of dating. It didn't help that her father is an airline captain and convinced her how dangerous those little planes are. The first time I took her up was after I pushed her really hard to go for a lap around the pattern and she gave in. Once we were on downwind I asked her if she wanted me to land or continue flying. She said to continue so we flew around the area and did some sightseeing. She enjoyed it.

Now she loves to fly with me, especially to the island destinations around here. It's rare that I go flying without her anymore.
 
JD318 said:
Carlos,
How did you convince her to go? I have yet to get my wife to go near the plane. Over 2 years with my PPL and can't get her to even sit in the thing. Kids all love it. JD
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Make it an adventure (albeit short/easy). Get a sitter for the kids if needed. Go someplace close but just far enough that the drive would be worse (eg. 3hrs drive vs 1hr flight). Stay over night so the trip is more about the destination than the flight. Bring something with for them to do during the flight (read, watch a movie, etc). At first she will associate the plane with "going someplace" instead of "flying". Maybe drive separately to the airport so she doesn't have to wait out fueling up, preflight, putting stuff away, etc. Fly low for a bit for the scenery but then climb higher for smoother air and less of the "ground is so close" sensation.

All this describes what we did for our daughter last year. Basically eased her into it. Now she's happy with something as simple with a few laps around the airport. We had made a mistake right after we got the plane. Flew all out, down low to a mega busy fly-in. Rough air, about 1 hr, really hot inside, etc. Too many initial bad associations.

Here's a flight she loves: I go to the airport early and prep the plane and have it all ready. My wife shows up with our daughter about 30 minutes later. My wife is PIC (until I am signed off:)) so she does her own preflight while I take our daughter to the nearby bathroom. Overall time from her showing up to starting the engine is less than 20 minutes and she's busy half of that. She's pretty engaged looking out the window during taxi and about the 1st 500ft climb out. About then she'll fire up her iPad. I have a battery powered mobile hotspot with 40 movies and about 100 TV episodes. She plugs her headset into the iPad and "streams" movies. I also have a small battery powered handheld fan (about $15). She uses that if she feels a bit woozy but that is only when its hot outside. Once we climb up to higher, where it might be smoother and less to see below...you won't hear a peep out of her the entire flight. I will interrupt her to eat a simple snack and drink some water. Also (very important) we have those little bags that you can puke or pee in and it dries up. I had her try one at home, she laughed and said "I could easily do that if needed". It was a great comfort as her biggest fear is having to go to the bathroom/puke mid flight. Anyway, 70 minutes later we land and Grandpa drives right out to the plane, she wheels her little bag to his car and we're there. Five hours turns into about 2hrs total. And it is a "trip" to a destination. To participate we make her pack her own bag, assembly her own "tech", she is responsible for weighing all bags to help with W&B and I have her enter the flight pan on the tablet, etc. I have noticed after this that she has way more questions about the panel and the plane. And she loves about 20-30 minutes up front time now.
 
mscard88 said:
Now don't blow it on the next flight and scare her. You have to ease her into the bumpier and windy days. ;)
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BEST advice ever given on ANY of the message boards! Pay attention new pilots;)

CARLOS W said:
Or Waco.. she's been wanting to go to magnolia store. Lol
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Hook ... Line ... and Sinker. You keep finding things that she's interested in, and saving tons of driving time and you'll be golden:) In about 4-5 flights if you keep it smooth, she'll bring up plane purchase to get away from the rentals if you're still renting.
 
Congrats! I can't wait to start on my ppl and experience this. My wife is supportive but scheptical of flying. I'm hoping that I'll be able to talk her into giving it a try. :)
 
The other alternative is to tell the wife the cute FBO chick loves flying with you:D
 
That is awesome, man! Glad you picked a calm time, that always helps with first-time passengers.
How much did she like it? Does she now actively talk about flying elsewhere, for breakfast/lunch/dinner etc?

Also, do NOT fall for the teasing here. I know you are a smart guy so you won't subject her to 60-degree bank angles in steep turns and stalls. Only retarded idiots do that with non-pilot passengers. I've seen way too many people discouraged from flying by dumba**es. :( Sorry, end of rant. :)

Glad y'all enjoyed it and let us know how she likes future excursions!
 
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