My reaction to this activity I didn't really predict until I got
into it. You simply do not take aloft the child of a parent,
standing right there and talking to you even briefly, trying
actually to sense what you're like, without a serious feeling of
responsibility.

Back in 1996 I flew my entire Cub Scout troop, by myself, on Young Eagle
flights. I had *maybe* 200 hours, and I did it in a clapped-out rental
Cherokee 140, two kids at a time, from a little-bitty 2300' x 30'
single-runway strip.

Of course, everything worked out fine, but the feeling of responsibility was
almost overwhelming. I remember taxiing out with two excited kids in the
back, and one nervous parent in the front, running through emergency
procedures in my head and being so tense that I had a headache for hours
afterward. It took a LONG time to fly the whole troop in that manner, and I
was happy but completely wiped out by the end of the day.

I didn't fly YE again until several years later, and then it was Mary and me
doing it as a team, with children of members of Mary's extended family.
What a difference! To be doing flights in a plane you own and maintain,
off a big, multi-runway airport, with people you sort-of know -- with
another pilot -- made for a much more enjoyable event. The pressure and
responsibility were (of course) still there, but to a much lesser degree.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"