Finally! My wife has seen the light!!

genna

genna

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Feb 5, 2015
Messages
1,721
Display Name
Display name:
ТУ-104
My wife does not like flying. Big planes, small planes, doesn’t matter. She hates any kind of turbulence and gets very nervous when there is any kind of wind present. No matter how I reassure her. At best, she tolerates flying with me. Most of the time, when I offer to fly somewhere it’s met with “yeah, ok, maybe” and is postponed. This, of course, puts a big damper on the whole flying business.

With that in mind, I managed to convince her to see how our 1yo would act on the plane by taking a short GA flight for a day trip to the beach. Before we start dealing with big airports, big planes, big trips.

The day started almost in a fight. I chucked it up to nerves. Luckily, we took a friend with us and he defused the situation. We also overslept and started out late. The day ended in a nearly 3 hour take off delay due to thunderstorms. But everything in between was perfect. Flights there and back were quick and smooth. Our son was mostly content and playing. He loved the ocean(also first time).

She’s now convinced that the 3-4h car ride, vs 40 min plane ride, would have been a disaster. When we got home, she basically asked me to do this again!!! 3 more trips are scheduled

Finally!!!!!! After 5 years there is hope!!


Of course, now I’m going to have to explain all this to the kid’s grandma :eek:
 

Attachments

  • 72FB50B2-F090-441E-A35A-9A5057439DEA.jpeg
    72FB50B2-F090-441E-A35A-9A5057439DEA.jpeg
    137.3 KB · Views: 212
  • D99C29EF-F30B-49C1-A7E8-9523EF7F1CFF.jpeg
    D99C29EF-F30B-49C1-A7E8-9523EF7F1CFF.jpeg
    164.7 KB · Views: 205
  • D8465120-1574-478B-8719-14509D5E8CC5.jpeg
    D8465120-1574-478B-8719-14509D5E8CC5.jpeg
    351.3 KB · Views: 205
Take grandma along next time. :)
 
GRG55 said:
Take grandma along next time. :)
Click to expand...

She’s flown with me, she doesn’t have fear for herself or even me. But the only grandson... yeah.... a different ball game
 
I thought you were gunna say she had a near death experience!
 
Thats so awesome. My wife was not at all sure about this flying thing. Started with a short 1 hour trip in perfect weather, before long she was asking if I could take her to a sale an hour away. Now she won't fly commercial and has me fly her half way across the country. We have been to Vegas, PA, FL, 5+ hour trips.
 
Topper said:
Thats so awesome. My wife was not at all sure about this flying thing. Started with a short 1 hour trip in perfect weather, before long she was asking if I could take her to a sale an hour away. Now she won't fly commercial and has me fly her half way across the country. We have been to Vegas, PA, FL, 5+ hour trips.
Click to expand...

I’m in this predicament of my own doing. Before flying with me, she had only been on an airplane a coupe of times. She’s a kind of person that will not get on a roller coaster(though happily jumps on a back of a motorcycle). Our first couple of flights were pretty nice, but then I pushed too far too fast. Spooked her and now I’m paying for it.

Baby steps. Pun intended
 
Lots of us got that problem. My wife is also an uncomfortable flyer, Boeings and all.
The only way I can get her in the plane is if there's a horse to see at the other end.
 
genna said:
......She’s now convinced that the 3-4h car ride, vs 40 min plane ride, would have been a disaster. When we got home, she basically asked me to do this again!!! 3 more trips are scheduled Finally!!!!!! After 5 years there is hope!!
Click to expand...

Genna,

Congrats! Fly to all those places she likes, throw in a date night too. Pick a favorite restaurant and fly there, or as my bride likes, outlet shopping.

I'm a lucky guy..... My bride flew from day one. We have visited 34 states to include; vacations, travel to see family, beach transportation (until we retired here and bought a home), Beech Club events and now Commander events. Despite our engine out emergency last year and subsequent off airport landing, she got back in a plane. We recently purchased our Commander and are both looking forward to more travels.
 
Count me lucky too. Before Mrs. Steingar flew with me a CFI took her up in the plane. She spots airports and traffic faster than me, so she’s handy to have around. She came around to really liking the Mooney when she saw what it did for travel.
 
Congrats. Hopefully, she will gradually want to take more and more trips.
 
Congrats. I hope to follow your lead but have already done the “short trips” our beach destination is a 3.5 hour drive but less then 1 hour flight. She has done once.
We have a trip upcoming next month 6 hour drive- 2 hour flight
She has been in a few times- doesn’t like turbulence, doesn’t like heights. She wears my goggles while she does a crossword puzzle-takes meds to go as well
I’ve resigned myself to he not wanting to ever volunteer it or agree. I’m at the point that I say I’m going and taking kids lol
 
We’ve done quite a few trips together. Many quite long. 3+ hour flights. Some were a chore for her. Some she enjoyed. Like the trip to see the full eclipse. She didn’t much enjoy the flying part, but the destination with understanding that this was impossible in a car. These trips are rare and specific, however

But this is the first time that she found something that she’d like to do consistently. Much heavier and faster plane helps a lot too
 
Great story! For those in process...picking your bride can make the whole ‘aviation accustomization’ process easier. Eleven years so far with my ATP/CFII/C550 IP/AP sweetheart! I’m a lucky man!

The whole thing started with a match.com search for ‘citabria’.

Jim
 
Jim Rosenow said:
Great story! For those in process...picking your bride can make the whole ‘aviation accustomization’ process easier. Eleven years so far with my ATP/CFII/C550 IP/AP sweetheart! I’m a lucky man!

The whole thing started with a match.com search for ‘citabria’.

Jim
Click to expand...

I love my wife, but I’m still jealous
 
I could tell the story, but no one would believe it
 
You’ve got the airplane for it!

Beautiful Cirrus!
 
Congratulations on getting them on board. My wife said long ago, "I better just suck it up and enjoy it, cause this is what you have always wanted to do." Married her shortly after that, been over 18 years since.

*edit* finally got to 100 posts. Only took 7.5 years.
 
My wife tolerated my flying passion until we decided to take a spur of the moment trip to DC to meet my sister for lunch. (She was doing an internship there for a month.) She thought this was thoroughly impractical, but we left in the morning, landed at College Park, hopped the metro, and were lunching in DC. We took in a few sights in the afternoon, then hopped the Metro back to our plane, and were back home in time for a late dinner. The light bulb went off. Sold! That led to some pinch-hitter training, which turned into her getting a full-blown pilot certificate.

Amazing what you can do even with a light single. At the time we were traveling with the two of us and a toothbrush in an AA-1A. Now we can head to Maine with real luggage in 3 hours the the AA-5, catch a Sea Dogs game, stuff ourselves with lobster, shop at LL Bean and in the Old Port district and get everything home in the plane without having to say a single swear word on I-95. Or spend a few days walking in Mt. Desert Island without the 9-12 hour drive to get there. Airlines are cheaper, but I don't usually lose my own luggage, and I'm timely and honest with myself about delays or cancellations!
 
It's always nice when the wife is on board! Great story!

My wife is fine with flying VFR but when I file IFR she gets nervous. She HATES being in the clouds, the roughness, the noises, not knowing what's ahead of us. That's understandable but man I basically have to avoid IMC with her in the plane. She tolerates it but is really really uncomfortable. I hope to shake that from her some day.

But the beach trips are her favorite, 4 hour drive or a 2 hour flight...yep she loves that! 9 hour trip driving to Dallas or 3.5 hour flying...she digs that too. Now I just need a faster heavier plane and maybe she will dig IMC better. Haha
 
In reading this I have a few reactions.

1) Congrats - and take it easy, step by step. I know lots of people that have "blown it" with their wives by doing to much, being too aggressive and jumping in the deep end. I've come close to doing the same, but have recovered before getting too deep in the wrong direction.

2) I'm so damn lucky. My wife had an interest in flying in her teens. When we met, our 2nd date included a trip to dinner in a rented C172RG. She took the takeoff for home that day. She loves being the co-captain of our ship. She loves IFR better than VFR, as it's more procedural and "part of the machine". She's a fan of IMC, as well. Not a fan of turbulence, just from the point that it messes with digestion. So, physical, not emotional.

Hints:

Make family flights purpose-driven. Don't take family up for touch and goes, or just knocking around. It's got no value to 90+% of passengers.
Visit the beach, go get that dinner, do the shopping or the theme park.
Uber/Lyft gives flexibility over the tempting, free crew-car that may have time-limits or availability issues. Make sure you've got Uber/Lyft, whatever, and use it without thinking. Don't make that part laden with any drama.
When you can, as much as feasible, "pre-set" the airplane the day prior to a trip. There's nothing redeeming about anyone sitting/standing around the hangar while dad adds oil/calls for fuel, etc.

ENJOY!
 
Well my wife didn’t like my flying 25 years ago when I bought a plane shortly after getting my ppl. We had 3 small kids and economically I had no business owning a plane at the time. I ended up taking 15 years off of flying (life and career choices) and started up again 2 years ago (just passed my IFR check ride). I asked if she would consider taking an intro flight since my brother is CFII. She did and she instantly fell in love with it! She put about 20 hours in and has had to stop because of the demands of her job. She hopes to get back again when she can devote the time an energy to do it. Now, however she understands the need for me to own a plane and why I love this hobby. So now I’m working on getting in on a plane with 2 other guys. My wife likes taking trips and going up even for local flights. At least now she can begin to help with radios and start learning flight planning and navigation, etc which might help her when she gets going again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
genna said:
My wife does not like flying. Big planes, small planes, doesn’t matter. She hates any kind of turbulence and gets very nervous when there is any kind of wind present. No matter how I reassure her. At best, she tolerates flying with me. Most of the time, when I offer to fly somewhere it’s met with “yeah, ok, maybe” and is postponed. This, of course, puts a big damper on the whole flying business.

With that in mind, I managed to convince her to see how our 1yo would act on the plane by taking a short GA flight for a day trip to the beach. Before we start dealing with big airports, big planes, big trips.

The day started almost in a fight. I chucked it up to nerves. Luckily, we took a friend with us and he defused the situation. We also overslept and started out late. The day ended in a nearly 3 hour take off delay due to thunderstorms. But everything in between was perfect. Flights there and back were quick and smooth. Our son was mostly content and playing. He loved the ocean(also first time).

She’s now convinced that the 3-4h car ride, vs 40 min plane ride, would have been a disaster. When we got home, she basically asked me to do this again!!! 3 more trips are scheduled

Finally!!!!!! After 5 years there is hope!!


Of course, now I’m going to have to explain all this to the kid’s grandma :eek:
Click to expand...

Great story and congrats. Hoping the best for you.

I had a similar experience with a friend of mine. It was pretty weird, she always said she wanted to go fly with me but when we finally went it was obvious she was visibly terrified. I tried for several minutes to calm her nerves and explain how safe it was. She would listen but her demeanor never changed. She was scared to death.

Finally I asked her, what exactly was it that she was so afraid of? She said "well if the engine quits were going to just fall out of the sky". So I again tried to explain to her about glide path and flying to a safe landing and again she listened but it had little effect on her.

So... I pointed out in the distance about 20-ish miles away and said, do you see that flat dry lake bed out there? She said "yes". I said "if the engine quits right here, we'd easily fly all the way out there and land. Again she listened but still wasn't convinced.

So... I slowly began pulling power, holding the nose, until I was able and killed the engine. Then I gently held nosed up causing the prop to completely stop spinning, and said, look at that, the engine is not running and here we are just sitting and gliding along. This amazed her as she immediately realized that we were not going to fall out of the sky, but she was concerned now that we were still in the mountains and she wasn't sure if we could make it to the dry lake bed.

I pitched for best glide and made a beautiful soft landing on the dry lake bed.

She has been avid lover of aviation ever since.
 
Last edited:
I made the mistake of giving my wife the foreflight iPad with ADS-B in on it so she would know where we were on the short flight up to Phoenix. She thought all those green arrows were right on top of us even AFTER I zoomed the screen out to show her that the closest one was 7 miles away. Then I landed at Chandler together with another plane on parallel runways, and she lost it. She hasn't been up with me since. I envy you guys with wives that love to fly.
 
GRG55 said:
Try us. :)
Click to expand...

Dear Penthou....er, POA. I wouldn't have believed this, had it not happened to me.

A little more than 11 years ago, I was a country-boy pilot; Happy, if not thrilled with my life. I was doing computer forensics/on-line investigations in Illinois, ready to retire whenever, and had my Citabria, little Vagabond, and Bogey (my Maltese) for company. One day I had several processes going, on various computers, and got a bit bored.

I had gotten an offer of a free 3-day trial from match.com. I had been on before, but got sick of all the BS, and let it go. This day I fired it up and, on a whim, did a search for profiles containing 'Citabira'. There was one, and only one....tall blond girl, jet jockey, CFII (teaching in her own 172), A&P, with a killer smile, from Ohio. She had gotten her CFI in a Citabria at OSU and the line 'A Citabria is my dream airplane' caused the search hit. Immediately knowing I was completely out-classed, I moved along without 'winking' at her.

That evening (to hear her tell it) the girl was on a roll...winking at everybody. Noticing that I had viewed her profile, she winked at me :)

My first email to her, in total, was the following... "Will you marry me?" I figured either she had a sense of humor or she didn't. Her reply proved she did... "Maybe!" We chatted for three months both on-line and on the phone, and eventually her Citation was scheduled to be in Des Moines (3 hours from my home by car, but closer than NE Ohio). I met her at the FBO, we had breakfast and a walk in the park, and shared our first kiss before she flew away.

Memorial Day was coming up, and I got tickets to a local B.B.King concert. I called her up to ask her to come for the week-end. She was in her car driving, and when I mentioned B.B. she turned up the volume on her CD... B.B.!!

She flew her 172 to Illinois for the week-end, and I knew it was a match made in heaven. How many of you guys have gotten a BFR from a girl on your fist date? I didn't think so!

Keeps getting better and better!

Jim
 
Too bad we are unable to "Like" a post more than once.

Great story Jim!
 
Genna....apologies for hijacking the thread!

Jim
 
I'm happy to report that my mother(the grandma) and father(who i cannot convince to step onto a small plane) were totally cool about it. Color me surprised.
 
genna said:
I'm happy to report that my mother(the grandma) and father(who i cannot convince to step onto a small plane) were totally cool about it. Color me surprised.
Click to expand...

Great! Now see how he does holding altitude, hand flying with that side yoke thing next time.
Might as well get 'im started early. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top