What do you tell a nervous passenger...

"Crap. I forgot to take my depression meds this morning."
 
Of course the wing won't fall off, that's what the duct tape is for!

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mulligan said:
If there is turbulence involved, I typically ask her to remove her shirt as she would be much more comfortable that way.
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Excellent. This has now become the "S" in my SAFETY brief.

Much more important than seatbelts...
 
Just explain that the aircraft structure is designed to withstand high loads and will not fall off in normal flight regimes and that the only way that they will fall off (or more correctly be sheared off) is by overload such as aerobatics.



Then do a loop.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Keep it coming guys. I didn't mention who the passenger was but its my wife.
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Your done!:confused:

I've been flying nearly 10 years. My wife has flown with me a handful of times, and these are some of the gyrations over the past 10 years:

1. Entire family cannot fly at once (only have one child) ... that relaxed after year 5
2. She loves to fly, but only in the local area.
3. Her main concern is TB. She can handle TB, but doesn't like it. She "survived" (her words) extreme TB.;)
4. I can fly whenever and where ever, and she has encouraged tons of long XC trips ... only she meets my son and I there via SWA ... El Paso to Disney trips we always arrived within minutes of one another after leaving the house at the same time.

On the positive side:

1. She is up to an evening flight nearly always (winds dependent)
2. She doesn't mind night flying
3. She wants to fly LOW instead of high ... the lower the better ... like tree top LOW:eek::confused:
 
has she ever gone up with you AND an instructor? I got checked out in an archer down in FLA once then took my parents for their first flight. the instructor went up to my mom and said something like "he's a really good, safe pilot" and I think that calmed her down a bit. of course I had to bribe him to say that, but she didn't know that. maybe if she went up with u and a cfi and the cfi gave u raving reviews, she'd feel a little better.
 
Timbeck2 said:
who is convinced that a wing is going to fall off? I know that when I was concerned when I first started flying about structural damage I saw a picture somewhere of a Piper Cherokee with a row of people sitting on each wing and a row of people standing on the wing behind them with the caption "Piper employees demonstrating only a fraction of what the wing is designed to endure" or something along those lines. I also try to use a statistic that I found where in all the aviation accidents in small aircraft, only a very small fraction were caused by a wing falling off.

What data do you guys use to convince people especially in turbulence that the wing isn't going to fall off?
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Honestly if a person is so nervous a wing is going to fall off why are they getting in a plane with you in the first place? Leave them on the ground and take someone who will be fun to go with! Now if you have to take them along( like a co-worker or family member) than just tell them that millions of GA flights take off and land every week without a wing falling off. If we are the unlucky one in a million than I guess it's our time!

I just took a person flying with me on her first ever GA flight. She was nervous so when I got her buckled in and went around to get in m side I said, "ok well I'll see you in a few hours I bet you can take it from here." She laughed and we cut the ice. She asked me later, "how many hours do I have?" I said, "well this is really my first time but don't worry we have instructions( and showed her the checklist.)" She was laughing and the nerves went away.
 
She's never been up in a small plane. She doesn't really like to fly commercial but she does okay. I think I've still got fingernail marks in my arm when it got a little bumpy on a commercial flight a few years ago.

I like the CFI bribe thing but in the summer in a Cherokee 140 we'd have to go up at 6 am and that ain't happening with her.
 
I tell them that the guy who built this thing in his garage had a totally gnarly set of tools.
They say: "built in his garage?"
I say: "Yah, that's why it says EXPERIMENTAL"
They say: "How's that experiment going?"
I say: "So far so good!"
 
Timbeck2 said:
She's never been up in a small plane. She doesn't really like to fly commercial but she does okay. I think I've still got fingernail marks in my arm when it got a little bumpy on a commercial flight a few years ago.

I like the CFI bribe thing but in the summer in a Cherokee 140 we'd have to go up at 6 am and that ain't happening with her.
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I had a passenger comment that they don't do well on the airlines, but they REALLY liked the flight in the Cessna. "You can see so much more when you're sitting up front! Plus, being lower and slower it's easier to pick out landmarks on the ground."

That said, if you suspect a passenger might be iffy, I'd wait for one of those very rare days with calm winds (not <10 kts, actually CALM) and plan a short 15-20 minute sightseeing flight. When I've managed to do that, I often get calls about "When can we go flying again?" Keep them wanting more.
 
Timbeck2 said:
She's never been up in a small plane. She doesn't really like to fly commercial but she does okay. I think I've still got fingernail marks in my arm when it got a little bumpy on a commercial flight a few years ago.
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That may be more than flying though. I get seriously claustrophobic on a commercial plane, which I don't get on a small airplane or helicopter. Windows makes a huge difference.
 
Simply tell her that the engine always sounds like that, and it's only quit twice before. then allow it to quit while you switch tanks. You'll never have to worry about that nervous passenger again.:)
 
Try this:

There's no need to worry about a wing falling off the plane. You see, it's the wings that hold the plane up, not the plane holding the wings up. If something breaks, the wings won't fall off the plane; rather, the plane will fall off the wings.

So you can see that your fear is completely unfounded. Feel better now?

Let me know if it works.
 
If there was anything wrong with this airplane it wouldnt still be flying 50 years later.
 
DO NOT do the "look how prepared I am" thing with the wife.

I did that with the girlfriend and it only made her more suspicious... like... why is risk management such a big deal? For me I like knowing ahead of time that if X happens, then I will do Y. She didn't. She wants to know X is impossible. So fine, as far as I'm concerned X will never happen when she flies with me. Mentally I'm prepared for anything that goes sideways... and she's blissfully unaware. Makes my life easier.

I REALLY like the "the wings don't move, the whole plane does" excuse though. I'm using that from now on.
 
I took a nervous first timer through the preflight so he could see everything, how it gets checked, and why. He never had a problem after that.
 
"Lady, do I look like some kind of daredevil to you?? I wouldn't go if the plane wasn't safe."
 
Of course you had her watch the mandatory 6PC instructional video series, right? If that didn't set her mind at ease than nothing will.
 
mjburian said:
I had a passenger comment that they don't do well on the airlines, but they REALLY liked the flight in the Cessna. "You can see so much more when you're sitting up front! Plus, being lower and slower it's easier to pick out landmarks on the ground."

That said, if you suspect a passenger might be iffy, I'd wait for one of those very rare days with calm winds (not <10 kts, actually CALM) and plan a short 15-20 minute sightseeing flight. When I've managed to do that, I often get calls about "When can we go flying again?" Keep them wanting more.
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Actually kind of funny...commercial flights can make me a bit nervous sometimes...I don't like the feeling of not being in control and not seeing what is in front of me...but I feel very comfortable in a small plane...that doesn't make sense lol
 
CC268 said:
Actually kind of funny...commercial flights can make me a bit nervous sometimes...I don't like the feeling of not being in control and not seeing what is in front of me...but I feel very comfortable in a small plane...that doesn't make sense lol
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I have the same feeling on commercial flights. Totally irrational, but I don't like not being in control. I'm just a bad passenger in general.
 
Skip Miller said:
This plane has been inspected annually by a specially trained inspector, and he says it is safe to fly.
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:rofl::rofl:

That's right up there with "The FAA inspected this (homebuilt) aircraft to make sure it was safe when it was built."

But, if it makes people feel better...
 
If you got wooden wings this line is always reassuring...

"It's all good as long as the termites keep holding hands"
 
Tell them to tuck in their shirt. If they have to puke, and we're all out of bags already, puke down their shirt...
Or in their shoe.
 
RJM62 said:
"Don't worry. I used Gorilla Glue."

Rich
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bradg33 said:
I stopped trying to convince people with irrational fears to fly with me a long time ago. Not worth the hassle.
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Agreed! When emotion is running a persons decisions there is not much you can do!
 
FloridaPilot said:
Agreed! When emotion is running a persons decisions there is not much you can do!
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An irrational fear is just one that YOU don't understand. They might not either.

However when it's someone like you'd really like to fly with, like a spouse, then it's worth trying to understand it. With a spouse, it feels like a lack of understanding of how to trust that things will go right.
 
Shawn said:
I tell people flying in air is like riding in a boat in water, there will be ups and downs and waves. Even though the water may get rough, think about HOW BIG a wave it would take in order to take down a cruise ship...same thing in the air...although it may be bumpy, there is not a big enough "wave" up here to take us down or damage the plane. If there were, we would not even be up here in the first place!

Most can relate to that and I get a relaxed "Ohhh...yeah" as they think about it.
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I am going to tell myself this next time I am up. I really do not like rough air when I am PIC...Great way of putting it!
 
I'd tell 'em that I've never had an entire wing fall off. Only bits and pieces of one.
 
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