Rock climbing is definitely out of the question........

Fred

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
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"Fred Choate" wrote in message
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[...]
I didn't even respond. My question to you folks is simply, how long did
you all wait before you decided it was safe to fly with your family?
Myself.....my kids were the first passengers I took up, and I felt
completely safe, prepared, and at ease with them in the aircraft with me.

Good! I suppose a little bit of worry is a healthy thing, but the best
thing is for a new pilot to not only be competent and safe, but to FEEL
competent and safe. One of the worst things about new pilots is that they
don't have enough confidence in the skills that they actually DO have.

Comments?

Your friend makes an excellent point. It is true that new pilots, having
less experience, are at greater risk for certain kinds of accidents. The
same thing is true of new drivers, of course.

So, it clearly follows that when your children obtain their respective
driver's licenses, you would NOT want them riding in a car with such an
inexperienced driver. So, if you refrain from flying with your children
so soon after getting your pilot certificate, make sure you are consistent
and refuse to let them be in the same car with themselves when they are
driving so soon after getting their driver's license.

If you can figure out how to do that in a practical way, let us know.
Otherwise, I think the bottom line is that many of the things you may do
with your children are probably dangerous, including driving around town
or on the highway in a car. For any given exposure, its' pretty well
established that driving carries a lower risk than flying, but your
children probably have a much greater exposure to that risk than they do
to the risk during flying.

In any case, life is not without risks, and if there were enough reason to
worry about killing your children in a plane crash, there would be enough
reason to worry about leaving your children fatherless in a plane crash.
IMHO, the solution is not to avoid the risk, but to do what you can to
minimize it. That means flying carefully, using good judgment to decide
when and where to fly, and to not push the limits too far, whether you are
solo or with your children.

As far as your in-laws are concerned, if they consider it reasonable for
them to second-guess your parenting decisions, it seems to me they should
be expected to submit to you their planned weekly activities, so that you
can review them and make sure they aren't exposing their children to any
significant risk.

Remind them that taking their children on one car ride per day exposes
them to roughly the same risk as you flying with your children on one
flight per week. That the playground is a very dangerous place and should
be avoided at all costs. That restaurants are known to violate
(intentionally or not) health code designed to protect them from
food-borne pathogens and toxins. That their children should not be
drinking from any water source that has not been tested thoroughly by
them, whether that's a water fountain, bottled water, tap water, or
whatever.

Or, they can keep their mouths shut and let you make your own decisions
about raising your children. If and when your in-laws themselves are
pilots, and they have informed themselves about the risks involved, then
they *might* have reason to comment. In the meantime, they can safely be
told that they don't actually have any justification for thinking you
flying with your children is a bad idea, other than their own invalid
preconceptions about just how dangerous flying is in the first place.

It's not like you're taking them rock climbing, for crying out loud.

Pete