Giving passengers the whole package

RalphInCA

RalphInCA

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RalphInCA
took my brother flying yesterday in the Remos. Fun day. He was a little nervous at first, but he did fine.

One of the things I like to do with passengers is to include them in all the preparations that go into flying. Before we go get the airplane, I sit down with them, talk about flight, our flight path, how long the flight will be. Then I let them help me check weather, and gather any details we need for the flight, like frequencies, restricted airspace (this is SoCal, after all), altitudes.

Then we get the airplane. I let them help me with the preflight, reading the checklist and starting the airplane. Then we pull the airplane out of the hangar and go fly.

After the flight I let them help me push the airplane back in the hangar and make sure all post flight stuff is done.

Most people are very interested in all this and are amazed at what it takes to fly- even a local flight.

Anyone else do this, or do you just get in the airplane with your pax and fly?
 

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Get in and fly. Most don't give a crap about everything that goes with making a flight.
 
dang thought this was going to be a mile high thread.
 
EdFred said:
Get in and fly. Most don't give a crap about everything that goes with making a flight.
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Yeah, you are probably right.

My brother is a phd scientist, so he is highly interested in what makes the world work. Other pax have been either pilot wannabes, or technical people so they are interested as well.

I suspect that if I ever take my DIL or female cousins up, we will just get in and fly. :D
 
Depends upon level of interest. I'm not going to waste time if the pax isn't interested. Some may even find the level of detail troublesome.
 
Depends on the pax.
Most aren't interested - and, if they were to see all that goes into a flight, they wouldn't be "amazed" in a good way.

When I have dinner guests, I don't "let them" help me clean the house, prepare the meal, and wash the dishes.
 
Uncover and pre flight before they arrive,once we go out to the. Plane teach them door latch,position of life jacket,and proper fitting of seat belt. Depending on their interest,explain the instruments and avionics. Also give briefing of what to expect during flight.
 
Troublesome. Each "preparation" step I see makes me realize how much can go wrong. Preflights are an opportunity to see every little wire and rivet that could snap, leading to terror and doom.

I'm in the get-in-and-fly camp, but would rather go by car.
 
RalphInCA said:
Yeah, you are probably right.

My brother is a phd scientist, so he is highly interested in what makes the world work. Other pax have been either pilot wannabes, or technical people so they are interested as well.

I suspect that if I ever take my DIL or female cousins up, we will just get in and fly. :D
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It definitely depends on the person. Some people I take up will just glaze over whatever I tell them. Others are really interested and I let them fly the whole time
 
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RalphInCA said:
Yeah, you are probably right.

My brother is a phd scientist, so he is highly interested in what makes the world work. Other pax have been either pilot wannabes, or technical people so they are interested as well.

I suspect that if I ever take my DIL or female cousins up, we will just get in and fly. :D
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Sometimes girls are just as interested as guys.
 
If a passenger is interested in flying, I'll let them participate in preflight, push the airplane around, etc. If they want a sightseeing trip, I'll have the airplane preflighted and ready to go when they get there.

Generally, ask. Some people not only aren't interested in preflight, but get seriously bored before you ever get them in the airplane. It can ruin a flight to have them sitting around for 30 minutes while you make phone calls to FSS and the fuel truck and diddle around with all the control surfaces, and so on. And your preflight isn't generally all that good if you get interrupted constantly.
 
Becky said:
Troublesome. Each "preparation" step I see makes me realize how much can go wrong. Preflights are an opportunity to see every little wire and rivet that could snap, leading to terror and doom.

.
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Hmmm. Hadn't thought about that.

I was thinking that by including them in the details, I was showing them how much we thought about safety, but perhaps I thought wrong.
 
Most of my passengers have been pretty interested in what I'm doing. I don't spew random info during the process and I don't typically let them do anything when it comes to the pre-flight. We are there to fly and I want to get us in the air as safely as I can with as few interruptions as possible.

Now, once we're airborne that's when the person in the right seat can have some fun and if they want I'll get them involved in any way I can - watching gauges for me, looking out for traffic, give them iPad with ForeFlight open so that they can track our flight, etc...

For the ones that just want to look out the window...that's awesome too. I think some pilot folk want to kinda show off a little and get diarrhea of the mouth and for the somewhat weary passenger it gets a little overwhelming...this is a perfect example of that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cUJVD-WxzI

I've taken several first timers up - they are all different. Some of them want to grab a hold and fly it as soon as they can and others are crying. I've been on both sides. A good pilot can sense/judge and make sure that everyone has a great experience.
 
kenjr said:
Most of my passengers have been pretty interested in what I'm doing. I don't spew random info during the process and I don't typically let them do anything when it comes to the pre-flight. We are there to fly and I want to get us in the air as safely as I can with as few interruptions as possible.

Now, once we're airborne that's when the person in the right seat can have some fun and if they want I'll get them involved in any way I can - watching gauges for me, looking out for traffic, give them iPad with ForeFlight open so that they can track our flight, etc...

For the ones that just want to look out the window...that's awesome too. I think some pilot folk want to kinda show off a little and get diarrhea of the mouth and for the somewhat weary passenger it gets a little overwhelming...this is a perfect example of that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cUJVD-WxzI

I've taken several first timers up - they are all different. Some of them want to grab a hold and fly it as soon as they can and others are crying. I've been on both sides. A good pilot can sense/judge and make sure that everyone has a great experience.
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Yep. I gauge each person. I know when to shut up and when to talk.
 
My passengers enjoy helping out. If they want to take the wheel I normally let them fly for 15-20 minutes
 
RalphInCA said:
Then we get the airplane. I let them help me with the preflight, reading the checklist and starting the airplane. Then we pull the airplane out of the hangar and go fly.
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Yikes! Fingers typing faster than the brain, I hope.
 
e'rbody is different but I def try not to barf up a whole lotta technical-speak. if they ask, I try to give an "airplane for dummies" response. putting the cover on the plane when we're done takes about 3 minutes and most everyone offers to help. other than that it's sit back, relax, hold my beer while I take off and let's go flying!
 
Van Johnston said:
Yikes! Fingers typing faster than the brain, I hope.
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Nope. I start the engine before I even open up the hangar doors. Gets kinda cold here in SoCal. I can't take that sub 60 degree weather.

We taxi back into the hangar too. The hard part is getting the airplane turned around once inside. :wink2:
 
Depends on the pax for me, if they are interested in aviation I like to give the full deal, if they are friends from school (or girls :D), I usually just have them get in and we fly, without showing them through the full process.
 
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