ChrisK
En-Route
I had the opportunity to take my 7 year old son up for 0.5 on the hobbs yesterday. I decided to take the same plane I took my checkride in which was a decided mistake. Even today I saw someone else take it out, and it is extremely underpowered...
It was a hotish day (not exceedingly, but there was some sweating going on) at about 4PM. I know that 4PM is not the best time for a first ride especially on a warm day, but there I was. Once again, it took too long to get up to speed and climb off the runway, but I managed to get it up into the afternoon turbulent air.
I was really afraid that the bumps were going to freak my boy out, but man was he a trooper. He was having the time of his life, so I took him out to another local airport to do a landing and look out the window a bit. He didn't show ANY signs of wanting the ride to end. The only reason I cut it short is because the bumpy afternoon heat was making the ride not fun for ME.
In the end he said the only bumpy parts were my landings. Everyone's a critic...
So today (at about 9:15 am) I took the 2nd most timid of the 5 kids up (in a more normally powered airplane this time). The almost-13-year-old girl was certainly apprehensive but willing to give it a try. I should note that this is the one who, upon riding two roller coasters, swore off of them for life. I tried explaining to her that the 500FPM climb rate would be nothing like the G forces she experienced in the coaster.
She started freaking out as soon as the wheels left the ground and was in a state of panic during the entire climb out of about 90 or so seconds. There were a couple bumps (once again a clear sunny day and the temperature was increasing), but nothing near as bad as yesterday.
I explained to her (which I also had explained on the ground) that I had to climb to pattern altitude before I could turn around and land. As soon as I leveled off, she calmed down slightly, but still refused to look out the window (she later said she stole some glances out of the pilot side window during my shallow left turns in the pattern, which I had made extra shallow for her). I spun it around the pattern, did a fairly normal square pattern descent, and landed halfway decently.
On the ground, she said that she would have felt better if she had something solid to grab on to. She started to reach for the yoke a couple of times, and when I noticed I said "Don't grab that!" I am thinking that she might feel a little better in the back seat of a 172, because at least you feel a bit more enclosed back there and can always grab on to the front seat.
I hope that I just have to acclimate her to flying, but it is possible that her timidity and her sensitivity to altitude changes will preclude her from flying. Her younger (10) brother is way, way more timid than she is, and I'm not sure I can get him to even get in the plane. Of the older two boys, the almost 16 year old is willing to try it, and the 19 year old is pretty much "nope - not going to get in that thing". My wife is extremely afraid of airplanes of all sizes, but we'll see where that goes over the years. At least she is willing to let me take the kids up now that the FAA has said I'm not dangerous
Any thoughts on how to calm new pax?
It was a hotish day (not exceedingly, but there was some sweating going on) at about 4PM. I know that 4PM is not the best time for a first ride especially on a warm day, but there I was. Once again, it took too long to get up to speed and climb off the runway, but I managed to get it up into the afternoon turbulent air.
I was really afraid that the bumps were going to freak my boy out, but man was he a trooper. He was having the time of his life, so I took him out to another local airport to do a landing and look out the window a bit. He didn't show ANY signs of wanting the ride to end. The only reason I cut it short is because the bumpy afternoon heat was making the ride not fun for ME.
In the end he said the only bumpy parts were my landings. Everyone's a critic...
So today (at about 9:15 am) I took the 2nd most timid of the 5 kids up (in a more normally powered airplane this time). The almost-13-year-old girl was certainly apprehensive but willing to give it a try. I should note that this is the one who, upon riding two roller coasters, swore off of them for life. I tried explaining to her that the 500FPM climb rate would be nothing like the G forces she experienced in the coaster.
She started freaking out as soon as the wheels left the ground and was in a state of panic during the entire climb out of about 90 or so seconds. There were a couple bumps (once again a clear sunny day and the temperature was increasing), but nothing near as bad as yesterday.
I explained to her (which I also had explained on the ground) that I had to climb to pattern altitude before I could turn around and land. As soon as I leveled off, she calmed down slightly, but still refused to look out the window (she later said she stole some glances out of the pilot side window during my shallow left turns in the pattern, which I had made extra shallow for her). I spun it around the pattern, did a fairly normal square pattern descent, and landed halfway decently.
On the ground, she said that she would have felt better if she had something solid to grab on to. She started to reach for the yoke a couple of times, and when I noticed I said "Don't grab that!" I am thinking that she might feel a little better in the back seat of a 172, because at least you feel a bit more enclosed back there and can always grab on to the front seat.
I hope that I just have to acclimate her to flying, but it is possible that her timidity and her sensitivity to altitude changes will preclude her from flying. Her younger (10) brother is way, way more timid than she is, and I'm not sure I can get him to even get in the plane. Of the older two boys, the almost 16 year old is willing to try it, and the 19 year old is pretty much "nope - not going to get in that thing". My wife is extremely afraid of airplanes of all sizes, but we'll see where that goes over the years. At least she is willing to let me take the kids up now that the FAA has said I'm not dangerous
Any thoughts on how to calm new pax?
