Are you afraid for your airplane or your child or the cost? Or all three?
In one sentence you are positive about the idea of him taking flying
lessons. In another you are worried about him using your airplane to go
flying in. I'm a long way from facing this issue as my children are 7, but
I think that I will either trust their judgement or not. If I trust their
judgement, they can use the airplane. I don't know how I will handle the
cost. On one hand, you don't want to provide them with thousands of dollars
to fly around and impress their friends, but on the other, you want them to
be competent and they can't be without flying frequently. 16yr olds can't
afford to pay for much flying and I'd rather have them do well in school.

I would be particularly concerned about flying dates. There is too much
potential for distraction.

Mike
MU-2


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:BSuUd.70922$tl3.52178@attbi_s02...
Mary and I have tried very hard to treat flying as an uncommon -- but
perfectly normal -- family activity, and that's all my kids have ever
known. My 14-year-old son has 13 hours in his logbook, and can climb,
descend and hold altitude, track a heading, determine the proper runway to
land on, and (I suspect) probably land the plane -- although I've never
let him get below 200 feet on final approach. To him, flying a light
plane is no greater challenge than beating the latest Playstation game,
and going for a plane ride is something he's done over 400 times in his
short life...

Thus, we hope he'll be taking flight lessons this summer, assuming all
goes well with his grades. He thinks he's ready, and I hope he earns his
glider rating before next school year starts.

All well and good, but the magnitude of this endeavor had truly not sunk
in until he quite innocently said:

"Just think, Dad, in two years I'll be able to take a date out in the
plane!"

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I just laughed -- but this brings
up a serious point that I've never seen addressed here. For those of you
who own aircraft, and have kids that have learned to fly, how did you
handle "borrowing the plane"? I mean, it's not quite the same as letting
him take the pickup down to the corner grocery...

Do you guys let your kids fly your plane?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"