In any case, kudos to Mary for *asking* instead of making her feel
compelled to take the controls. I hate it when someone "asks" you to do
something in such a way that you feel you can't comfortably decline. You
*do* realize, don't you Jay, that if you made her feel dumb, afraid or
like she disappointed *you* because she declined that you may have just
made her think twice about going up with you again. There's a reason for
the term "different strokes".

Jay:
You would do well to concentrate on the topic at hand, rather than
making gross generalizations and speculating about things I personally
might have said or done.

No one was made to feel dumb, and no one was disappointed because she
didn't take the controls. I brought this subject up simply because I
found her lack of eagerness puzzling, and I believe that understanding
this could perhaps be key to figuring out how to get MORE people
interested in flying.

You may note that I said, **IF**. And my comments also addressed
understanding the topic. Not everyone gets interested in flying by
having the controls put in their hands when they aren't ready ... in
fact, some can be turned off by pushing that on them. Mary asked, she
declined ... but maybe just being asked will cause her to give it some
thought on her own. Sometimes that's better than coming across too
aggressively with your enthusiasm. It wasn't off topic, just another
POV, since you asked.