Wifes first flight....

tdager

tdager

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LittleIronPilot
that is with me alone, no instructor onboard.

I will be taking her up on Sunday out of Tara Field (4A7) just south of Atlanta.

Anyplace within an hours flight that has a decent restuarant onsite?

Unfortunately I cannot take the rental plane onto anything other then pavement, so grass strips are out.

Thanks!
 
tdager said:
Anyplace within an hours flight that has a decent restuarant onsite?
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PDK, LZU, WDR...I'm sure there are a few others, but these are the one's I'm familiar with. Hope your wife enjoys the ride!
 
I haven't been there but Callaway Gardens at Pine Mountain (PIM) is reported to be a nice place to go. Only 43N SW from 4A7. Have fun where ever you go.
Ron
 
Don't know how the missus feels about flying, but my suggestion is to make gentle banks in the pattern.

The mission is a no-go with any sort of bumps in the air, too.

Good luck, and enjoy.
 
I use to stop at Callaway Gardens on the way to SC about twice a year. There is a nice restaurant on the premises. I would call ahead to make sure they still run a courtesy van to the field. There has been talk recently of closing the field.

To look for nearby destinations the following site has a user friendly interface to find fly-in points of interest:

http://www.adventurepilot.com/
 
Well the plans did not go off as, well, planned.

Sundays weather was not conducive to a "first flight". 2500 OKC with winds 10+G18+.

We did taxi out to just "poke a nose" but quickly decided it was not too be...the wife was grateful for me not pushing it.

So I scheduled for Monday morning and I wake up and guess what...up VERY low ceilings and fog. Again a no-go.

Well we do some running around and about noon we go to lunch and while at lunch it just clears....and we have AMAZING blue skies with a few "puffies" as 4500. So I call and get the plane and we roll to the airport and away we go.

All in all it was an amazing flight.....she enjoyed flying over the house, her work, and the small hills we flew over. She took the thermal bumps in stride, never even making a peep as the plane took off and got bumped heavily going into the lumpy air over the trees.

Landing however was a bit more nerve racking for her. She has never flown in the front seat and the winds were favoring the runway that had trees near the threshold.

She started to get nervous and grip the armrest on the door as we turned downwind to base and it go worse as we turned base to final. It did not help that a plane called that he was taking the runway for departure just as we were turning base to final...I prepared to do a go-around as I repeated, strongly, my position. The aircraft called an apology that he did not see me.

So we scoot over the trees and I am over the numbers as I cut power....but fighting a stronger cross-wind then normal for me (running 8-10 knots at 70 degrees) I was a bit high as I cut the power. I felt us dropping and instictively added power to add lift and soften the landing.

It was definately a "plonk" landing, about 2-3 feet off the center-line, but not a tooth and bone jarring landing by any means, just not a nice "squeeker" like I was trying to do.

Then it was time to taxi back.

We spent 1.2 hours in the air and the wife really had a great time. We even talked to someone about buying a 182 instead of a 172 as our first plane.

I just wish my landing had been a bit better....I was distracted too much with the wind and worrying about the wife. Oh well, not too bad for my first flight since getting my license! I even had the wife sign my log book. :D
 
AWESOME. Congratulations. In my experience, I always judge the landings far more harshly than the pax do. I'm sure you did fine. As long as she says "I'd do that again" you're a winner!
 
flyersfan31 said:
AWESOME. Congratulations. In my experience, I always judge the landings far more harshly than the pax do. I'm sure you did fine. As long as she says "I'd do that again" you're a winner!
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I've finally learned not to applogize for the terrible landing as they usually think it was a good one, not having anything to compare to.

My wife tells me she'll fly with me when I have 200 hours (120 hours to go at ~3 hours per month = 3.3 years).

Chris
 
cwyckham said:
My wife tells me she'll fly with me when I have 200 hours (120 hours to go at ~3 hours per month = 3.3 years).
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I got my PP in Novermber of, lets see, 2004. My wife said, get some hours, I'll fly with you next spring. SPring rolls around, then she said, this summer. Summer rolls around, and she said, after you finish your IR. Finished the IR, and now she says, I'll fly with you right after I swallow this xanax.....:dunno:

At least she's getting in the plane now. My 4 year old daughter loves it, "Daddy, we're taller than EVERYONE!"
 
I made the ulimate mistake of taking my loving bride up for her 1st ride on a semi bumpy day, she had been up with my instructor and I once before but it was at night during Christmas time so it was real smooth and she had pretty lights to look at. On her maiden voyage with me we made it about 10 miles out and she started getting scared as well as began to turn green.
It took me three years to get her back up and I had to do it in baby steps, a few night flights and then some early morning late evening flights then finally she seems to have recovered.
We just completed a trip to Eureka Springs AR from Addison and she actually enjoyed the trip, had quite a few bumps coming back but she took it all in stride.
She is now speaking in general aviation terms again and is looking forward to many vacation trips.
 
Oh Yeah I forgot,
She has requested that I not say anything negative like "whoops" or "ohh crap" while on final or at least before touchdown!
 
LOL...KT I hear you. I remember saying "we are not going to make it" to the instructor once with the wife on board. Of course I meant we would have to do a go-around on the landing, but the wife took it differently! :D

The good part is my wife is one adventurous lady. She has ridden a motorcycle across half the country. She wants to skydive and bungie jump. She is looking forward to Scuba diving and even gets on the dirtbikes. It makes it a bit easier to get her into the "adventure" of flying.
 
My wife flew with me the day I got my license, in a C-152 no less. Her only comment was "yeah, your right, this plane is small". She's been sleeping in the the right seat of my plane for the past 13 years. :rolleyes:
 
I can't remember my wife's first flight with me in an airplane as it has been 30 years ago, she has since become quite bored with it unless we are traveling to a new area. However, she was excited to go with me 2 years ago when I first got my private helicopter rating. She really enjoyed the low & slow with great visibility that flying in a helicopter gives you. And she said she wasn't even scared. (that made one of us:) )
 
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