Here are couple of pics of my daughter flying the Archer last summer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/weaver1...7594074697690/

I did the takeoff, but she flew the climbout and pretty much all the
way from Bozeman to Great Falls. She's flown with me since she was four
years old. Doesn't yet want to spend the time and commitment it takes
to get her ticket, but I'm comfortable with her flying the airplane.

She does a good job. She could probably handle the takeoff too, if I
let her.

On our day into Great Falls she flew the airplane all the way to short
final, airspeed pegged at 70 knots. She also handled the radios, which
is a story in itself.

I told her to tell Great Falls Approach (a TRSA, actually) that we were
inbound from the south, over the Smith River, with Romeo. She looked at
me kind of funny, then keyed the mike and told the controller, "Uh,
Great Falls, Archer three-niner-mike is 9 south, over the Smith River,
and we have Rambo on board".

Then she gave me this look like, "Why did you make me say that??".

There was a short pause, then the controller came back: "Roger, you
have Rambo on board. Do you have an instructor with you too?".

My daughter: "No, but my dad's with me".

Controller: "Good. Continue".

It was a fun flight.

We've had lots of other flights like that. Lots of fun.

--Walt


Dudley Henriques wrote:
"Stefan" wrote in message
...
Have I got this right? You are not a flight instructor. (If you are,
please correct me.) Despite this, you hand over the controls to a
stranger. To a stranger nonetheless who sits the first time in his life in
a small plane. And you don't just hand over the controls at altitude
(which admittedly I have done myself), but right on the ground and you let
him fly the take off. Then you let him fly a 180 at low altitude. And all
this *with a passenger in the back*!

Yes, you screwed up royally. But for a different reason than you think.

Stefan

As Shakespeare said, "Much ado about nothing".

There was nothing "wrong" or dangerous in what Dan did Stefan. Pilots do
this all the time, and few of them are instructors. In fact, the first time
I went up for a ride, (AT-6G) I did what could be stretched into (if I was
REALLY stretching that is :-) a reasonable facsimile of a decent slow roll.
Pilots each have to exercise responsibility if and when they hand over the
controls to a passenger as to where and when during the flight this
"changeover" takes place. A pilot letting the front seat pax handle the
controls for a while with the airplane at altitude in cruise poses no
particular threat to anyone. What's REALLY important is that the pilot in
command of the flight not allow ANYTHING to occur during that flight that
either frightens the people flying with that pilot, or endangers the flight
in any way.
Hell, half the pilots I know who aren't instructors can't wait to let people
fly their airplanes during a flight. That single thing has probably been
responsible for more people learning to fly than anything else I can
remember :-)
Dudley Henriques