Girlfriend first flight

Sport Pilot said:
She asked that we stay close to the ground; like 500 ft. because she feels being closer to the ground is safer.
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She won't know how to judge distances in the air any more than most of us. And she won't know what all the instruments are. When you get to 5,000, point to the "5" and tell her you are at 500.
 
I generally try to keep the rubber side down on first flights.
 
Tantalum said:
I had some friends once ask to change the XM station in the plane because this song came on Lithium.. no they're not pilots. It was over death valley with only desolation underneath.. so understandable I guess... lol
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Reminds me of a story from a good friend of mine.

He was going in for laser eye surgery. The clinic told him he could bring in a CD to play while his surgery was happening.

They were offended at his choice of the first song when they popped it in: "'Blinded by the Light".
 
The girlfriend I took on a first flight many years became my wife, and later a certificated pilot. On our first flight in a diminutive but very fun AA-1A, I told her, "whatever you do, don't make any cracks about how small it is..."

(Many first time pax would tell me, "we are flying tn THAT?" It was cozy for sure.)
 
Cluemeister said:
I always give the "city tour". Depart, fly over the stadium, the riverfront, the dam, and then loop back north. 30 minutes tops. Some ask to keep flying, others are more than ready to land. So plan out your own "city tour".
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The best flight lesson I ever received was from my Dad. "Always leave them wanting more."
 
chemgeek said:
The girlfriend I took on a first flight many years became my wife, and later a certificated pilot. On our first flight in a diminutive but very fun AA-1A, I told her, "whatever you do, don't make any cracks about how small it is..."

(Many first time pax would tell me, "we are flying tn THAT?" It was cozy for sure.)
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Were you talking about the plane or....
 
Tantalum said:
Don't say in the traffic pattern.. don't tell her everything you're doing. Unless she's a flying geek or a control freak it's probably best to leave that out. When you're at the dentist do you want the dentist spelling out everything they're doing?

When I first took my girlfriend up we departed Nashua, did a gentle flying to Northampton.. landed, walked into town, then back to Nashua. All my turns were probably 15* or less. I didn't announce anything other than "her we're going to be landing soon" and "okay, we're cruising now, should be there in 20 minutes" type of stuff
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Did my first dual xc to Northampton...took me a few minutes to find the airport.
 
I was still a student when I got married. I thought it would be cool to have my instructor fly us from the airport that just happened to be about 2 miles from her house back to the airport I trained out of, about a 25 minute flight. Get our marriage off to a flying start so to speak. We got married in the afternoon and early evening we were ready to take off. It was pretty windy, and the flight was extremely bumpy. She had never flown before. On that short flight she must have thrown up 4 or 5 times. So much for getting our marriage off to a flying start. I felt like such an idiot. FYI it wasn't the last time I felt like an idiot in our marriage. Eventually she got past that experience. But she never really enjoyed flying until just recently. Our kids and grand-kids now live 1.5 and 3.5 hours away in our plane. It took 30 years, but she finally has come around. She was even the one that suggested we buy the current plane we have. My advice? Don't even think about going up unless it is glass smooth and very pleasant. You won't get a second chance to make a first impression.
 
My advice? Don't even think about going up unless it is glass smooth and very pleasant. You won't get a second chance to make a first impression.
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Good advice.
 
chemgeek said:
The girlfriend I took on a first flight many years became my wife, and later a certificated pilot. On our first flight in a diminutive but very fun AA-1A, I told her, "whatever you do, don't make any cracks about how small it is..."

(Many first time pax would tell me, "we are flying tn THAT?" It was cozy for sure.)
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Same thing happened to me. Celebrated 21 years this summer. We married three years after I took her flying.
 
I had 6 high school juniors come out to my house one afternoon about 4 years ago to do a high school history "project". They needed to use the airplanes for a video. After they got finished, the boys all left and the 2 girls stayed and looked at the airplanes in depth. They had never flown in a small airplane. I told them I'd be happy to take them for a ride if they'd call their parents and get the OK. Their parents know us really well. My wife was a teacher at the time and had one of the girls in her 4 yo pre-k class (12 years prior). The girl was also a cheerleader, and I drove the bus for them all the time.

We made a short flight out of our private airport (2OK2). Flew out over Toby Keith's house, then over/around the lake, then back home and landed, lasted about 20 minutes. The girl that was in my wife's class texted me soon afterwards and asked when we could go again. I've been flying with her a lot since then. She wants to get her pilot's license now. She went to OSH with us last year. I've been unofficially teaching her to fly my 150 and she does an excellent job. I fly from the right seat, she can take off, fly the plane, and land it.

She actually does a really god job in my 172 and Sling 2 also.
 
JOhnH said:
She won't know how to judge distances in the air any more than most of us. And she won't know what all the instruments are.
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My wife was smarter than that. She doesn't fly often but did agree to be my first passenger in my current plane (eight years ago).

We were heading over to Barnwell (about 30 minutes away) and she looked up and asked, "is that how high we are?" I said, "yes we are 1800'." She then inquired, "is that how fast we're going?" I confirmed that we were traveling at an indicated airspeed of 135 MPH (were were in a slight climb). She looked at me and said, "we're good right here" ... so that's how we went to Barnwell.o_O
 
JOhnH said:
She won't know how to judge distances in the air any more than most of us. And she won't know what all the instruments are. When you get to 5,000, point to the "5" and tell her you are at 500.
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I was always told that women are bad at judging distances and lengths because they are frequently misinformed about what 9 inches looks like. I have no idea what that reference is talking about though.
 
This is a date - think of what will make this a good time for her. Your goal is not to make this a time for you to show off how much of a stud muffin pilot you are.

Give her peppermint balls to suck on. Peppermint oil settles your stomach - prevents motion sickness.

Bring chilled water

Good pair of sunglasses to avoid headaches.

Make sure the head set fits her - have her try on a few different ones. Have her wear the highest quality noise cancelling Bose or Zulu you can get. My wife first wore a David Clark - she didn't like flying. Got her a Zulu - world of difference.

Take lots of pictures, get her a rose or two sitting in the right seat.
 
This is a date - think of what will make this a good time for her. Your goal is not to make this a time for you to show off how much of a stud muffin pilot you are.

Give her peppermint balls to suck on. Peppermint oil settles your stomach - prevents motion sickness.

Bring chilled water

Good pair of sunglasses to avoid headaches.

Make sure the head set fits her - have her try on a few different ones. Have her wear the highest quality noise cancelling Bose or Zulu you can get. My wife first wore a David Clark - she didn't like flying. Got her a Zulu - world of difference.

Take lots of pictures, get her a rose or two sitting in the right seat.
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Perfect!
 
bflynn said:
Only piece of advice I haven't heard yet is to ask her to wear pants.

It will help her to resist throwing her panties in your face and blocking your vision. Trust me on this one.
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Been there done that... lesson learned.
 
By the way, it's often better if a young lady's first time is with an older, more experienced gentleman. I'm sure some member would be willing to help out if you'll post the young lady's photo.

Where are you located?

:devil:
 
Half Fast said:
By the way, it's often better if a young lady's first time is with an older, more experienced gentleman. I'm sure some member would be willing to help out if you'll post the young lady's photo.

Where are you located?

:devil:
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Hate to tell you sparky - Hershey bars and nylons don’t work the magic like they used to.
 
Half Fast said:
Too bad. If I have to rely on my looks and my personality, I'm sunk.
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:D You and me both brother - I make up for it by my lack of self awareness and delusional self assessment.
 
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I must confess, it was just about at this point when I started to wonder if this thread was going to drift the way it has.
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When I was dating, I tried to take my dates to unique places. I am about 150 miles from the beach, so I often offered to take them to the beach for the day. We landed and the airport offered a shuttle to the boardwalk. They loved it. Another trip that I offered was to take them to Tangier Island. The island is located in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay and had some unique restaurants on the island. The island is only accessible by boat or plate and had no cars on the island. My favorite destination was to take them to Hemingway's for lunch. At the time, the restaurant had a sideline business of renting out their stretch limousine and they would use the limousine to pick up passengers at the airport and take them to the restaurant. That always impressed them. After the third date, they will want you to fly them to Bimini for a vacation.
 
Oh yes, always turn off the marker beacon before the flight. If it goes off, it sounds like some sort of critical alarm to the novice.
 
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