Flying spouse

I wish my lovely spouse could take the helm, but they make me take the left-side controls out. Looks like it's all on me.
 
Have any of you here ever died and your spouse successfully landed?
Wondering what the stats are.
 
My wife took a "right seat" course and that actually made her a more interested passenger. She doesn't want to get her license, but she has landed a plane and is convinced she could walk away from if she had to land our plane again if I became incapacitated. In the meantime, she has become very helpful on long cross country flights and her anxiety level went WAY down.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Have any of you here ever died and your spouse successfully landed?
Wondering what the stats are.
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A guy down in FL landed his his king-air after the corporate pilot died. All his experience was some hours in a 172 30 years earlier.
 
I tried teaching my wife, then girlfriend, enough to safely get in the ground. It didn't go well. She ended up in the hospital due to severe air sickness.
 
Tonight we are having our annual meeting for the partnership. Two years ago, one of our more mature partners asked for a vote to install copilot brakes so his wife can land the plane in case he gets incapacitated. We looked at the expense involved and last year we took a vote giving his wife permission to run the plane off the end of a long runway instead ;)
 
No.

My wife intellectually acknowledges that she should learn how to land the airplane the same way people acknowledge that they need to exercise more.
 
Kritchlow said:
I tried teaching my wife, then girlfriend, enough to safely get in the ground. It didn't go well. She ended up in the hospital due to severe air sickness.
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That's your problem right there. She needs to know how to get it on the ground, not in the ground. You problem scarred her for life.:yikes::D
 
Kritchlow said:
I tried teaching my wife, then girlfriend, enough to safely get in the ground. It didn't go well. She ended up in the hospital due to severe air sickness.
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Okay...lemme get this straight:

You tried teaching your wife
Then you tried teaching your girlfriend

it didn't go well

One of them ended up in the hospital.

Did you go home with the other?

:D
 
Kritchlow said:
I tried teaching my wife, then girlfriend, enough to safely get in the ground. It didn't go well. She ended up in the hospital due to severe air sickness.
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Some things you just dont teach to others. I had success teaching my wife to shoot. I also tried to teach her to ski. That ended up with me leaving her at the top of the hill and going to go find her an instructor or she wouldn't come down.
 
My spouse knows at least how to pull the chute should I die while in flight. But I wish she would learn more. Hey, at least she flies with me!
 
Eagle I said:
My spouse knows at least how to pull the chute should I die while in flight. But I wish she would learn more. Hey, at least she flies with me!
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I'm in the same boat. My wife knows the "stop engine - stop fuel - tighten harness - pull chute" sequence by heart, but that's about as far as she wants to go. I got her to take the stick once and she did fine, but she is not keen on it. I have to keep working with her to get her comfy with flying.
 
Some if most of us doesn't have the option to pull chute.

Maybe I should get my wife sky diving lessons and she can wear a parachute while we are flying. If something happens to me see can bail out. :yes:
 
Still looking for a good solution here too. Can only manage to get him to hold the plane level for a few moments...and is not thrilled about it. He can do the sqawk codes and frequency changes now. Next is to teach how to do some garmin 430 stuff (flight plan/direct destination).

I'm thinking about getting a "discovery flight" from the school. It's basically 30 mins ground instruction and 30 minutes flight. I used these to check out schools before making my final decision on which school to go to. He did watch most of sportys ground school stuff with me regarding how the plane flys - but left the room when they covereed airspaces / rules / weather / flight systems / etc.
 
TazzyTazzy said:
Still looking for a good solution here too. Can only manage to get him to hold the plane level for a few moments...and is not thrilled about it. He can do the sqawk codes and frequency changes now. Next is to teach how to do some garmin 430 stuff (flight plan/direct destination).

I'm thinking about getting a "discovery flight" from the school. It's basically 30 mins ground instruction and 30 minutes flight. I used these to check out schools before making my final decision on which school to go to. He did watch most of sportys ground school stuff with me regarding how the plane flys - but left the room when they covereed airspaces / rules / weather / flight systems / etc.
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Good for him.:D
 
I had some jack-hole (and I say that affectionately) take my wife (then GF) up for her 1st airplane ride. It was supposed to be a ride, not instructional flight. He made her taxi and work the controls around 2 circuits in the pattern. She was not-thrilled and I had a suspicion that he thought he could hit on her without me in the airplane, as he claimed W&B concerns with 3 in a C-172P.

Sometimes, she's more comfortable than others. I once got her to input a multi-leg FP in the GPS. Last flight, it took about 8hrs for her to feel comfortable working the heat controls. For me now, anything she does in the airplane is a bonus. She often helps with the plane cover, which is a task that I don't like doing.
 
Jaybird180 said:
For me now, anything she does in the airplane is a bonus. She often helps with the plane cover, which is a task that I don't like doing.
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In the same spot. It's been a slow progress, but it's a great positive feedback loop so far. The more comfy he gets, the more he does, which makes him for comfortable flying, and learns more. It's a work in progress. Took a long while just to operate the heater and squawk code. Taught him pre-flight and we now do 70/30. Doing the tie downs, gas sumps, control locks, and generally looking at the exterior of the plane looking for problems/loose screws while I do a complete pre-flight. Extra eyes can't hurt, even if they don't know what they are looking for. It does speed up pre-flight a little bit with tie downs etc, but until he fully understands what he's looking at, I have to make sure the pre-flight is done properly.

More often than not, he just falls asleep shortly after take off and I gently wake him up before landing. For some people, it's just the means to an end, while for the rest of us, the end justifies means.
 
I never delegate preflight. I need to touch and verify those things for myself. I guess I can kiss my chances with the Blue Angels goodbye.
 
Jaybird180 said:
I never delegate preflight.
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I don't either.

But, removing tie downs and simple stuff is easy and makes people feel like they are helping and being involved. :-) I still have remove tie downs on my pre-flight checklist and make sure they are really removed along with anything else I've "delegated".

Does anyone have a list of things that they will let others do, but that you still check on your pre-flight?
 
TazzyTazzy said:
I don't either.

But, removing tie downs and simple stuff is easy and makes people feel like they are helping and being involved. :-) I still have remove tie downs on my pre-flight checklist and make sure they are really removed along with anything else I've "delegated".

Does anyone have a list of things that they will let others do, but that you still check on your pre-flight?
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No list for me.... I just keep an eye out on everyone around my plane during the preflight, and post flight..... Make that all the time....:yes:.......;)
 
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