Hints for parents of 13 year old student pilot?

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 21:34:19 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

This is exactly what I thought as soon as I read Jay's post. Jay should
continue flying with his son, and fostering his interest, and put off
having him take formal lessons until he's atleast 15.

Yeah, I've thought the same thing, off and on. But...

Then I read Trace Lewis' posts, with him asking insightful questions about
flying, and creating little musical videos of him flying a sail plane, and I
realize that SOME 13-year old boys *are* ready for this kind of thing. I
just don't know if *my* 13 year old boy is ready for such things.

Here's the deal: We want our son to feel the joy of flight. We want him to
be able to feel pride in achieving something other than the high score on
"Grand Theft Auto" (a popular video game, for you old fossils out there) --
while at the same time we don't want to push him into something he doesn't
appreciate.

On the OTHER other hand, a 13-year old is not unlike a pack-mule -- he'll
pretty much go whichever way you face him. If you don't steer them, they'll
just sit around all day eating potato chips and watching TV.

We are able to give him a unique opportunity -- an opportunity 99.999% of
the world will never have -- but this can be a double-edged sword if we
don't do it right.

*sigh* They say raising kids is the hardest thing you'll ever do. I'm
starting to believe that.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


Have you read Rick Durden's article about his daughter soloing in a
glider? There is a picture of her in this month's Sport Aviation
standing in front of the glider and looking hugely mature for a 13
year old, and extremely smug about things.

He flew beside her watching the flight.

I think Rick would probably explode with pride if his skin were a
thousandths thinner. ;-)

Corky Scott

Corky Scott wrote:

I think Rick would probably explode with pride if his skin were a
thousandths thinner. ;-)

Yet another reason for him to be glad he's so thick-skinned. :-)

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would
not yield to the tongue.

Have you read Rick Durden's article about his daughter soloing in a
glider? There is a picture of her in this month's Sport Aviation
standing in front of the glider and looking hugely mature for a 13
year old, and extremely smug about things.

He flew beside her watching the flight.

I think Rick would probably explode with pride if his skin were a
thousandths thinner. ;-)

For sure! I've met Rick's daughter, both at Oshkosh and when he brought her
here to Iowa City -- and she is one smooth operator. Very sharp and
self-confident for a teenager.

I think she was actually 14 when her AOPA article ran -- and she's probably
pushing 15 now.

Girls sure mature faster than boys at that age.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

*sigh* They say raising kids is the hardest thing you'll ever do. I'm
starting to believe that.

Starting??? Either the first 12 years were easy or you're a little slow on
the uptake there Jay :-)

Best of luck to you and Mary as you try and figure out the way to pursue
this whole thing. One thing your son has going for him is that when ATC
calls out traffic, he'll know *exactly* what to look for.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

Best of luck to you and Mary as you try and figure out the way to pursue
this whole thing. One thing your son has going for him is that when ATC
calls out traffic, he'll know *exactly* what to look for.

Yeah, but he'll be expecting a quarter every time he spots traffic! :-)

(We've been paying both of our kids 25 cents for every plane they can spot
before we do, since they were toddlers. Those young eyes can really SEE.
Of course, we have turn them "off" when we're flying into Oshkosh Airventure
or Sun N Fun, or we'd go broke!)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,
Two suggestions:
1. You should 'interview' potential instructors first to see if
he/she meet your expectations. In setting your criteria, I would
strongly suggest putting safety awareness on top of the list. Rick and
I were lucky enough to have one who was extremely safety oriented. It
may be even more important for your son who has been flying since
birth. He is so familiar with flying and may not have enough 'fear'
and 'respect' in his heart.
2. Good chemistry between a student and an instructor is very
important. You may want to let your son take lessons with several
instructors who meet your criteria and let him decide whom he likes
the best.

Having seen this a bit, my best advice would be ...

.... Wait.

If they're keen to learn then "test" their keenness by getting them stuck
into the written exams.

My belief if that the maturity to make life/death aviation decisions comes
with years AND experience - and in my (very humble) opinion someone who is
13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 even needs to mature more before commanding any
aeroplane.

It might sound a little harsh, but it's one thing to solo an aeroplane
around the circuit - it's another when you're up there, wishing you were
down there - lonely - scared - bad case of get-home-itis - deteriorating
weather - perhaps an engine problem etc. In those kinds of situations your
son/daughter is going to either grow up awefully fast, or ... (let's not
even think about it)

Hope this helps!

CC

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
Despite our aviation background, my wife and I are both on pins and
needles
about this -- we want to make sure he gets off on the right foot. Any
advice from others who have gone down this road is appreciated!

No advice here except to say that I sure hope your youngun' can grok what a
lucky little ******* he is. I sure wish I would have had such a chance at
that age. My gosh what a profound impact learning aviation would have had
had I been exposed to it earlier!

Good luck to your and yours.

--
Jim Fisher

No advice here except to say that I sure hope your youngun' can grok what
a
lucky little ******* he is. I sure wish I would have had such a chance at
that age. My gosh what a profound impact learning aviation would have had
had I been exposed to it earlier!

Same here. I can't even fathom what an opportunity like this would have
meant to me at age 13. I spent my entire life, until age 35, on the ground
looking up, wondering how (or if) I could ever get up there...

I talked with a young instructor-friend today, and asked him what he thought
of teaching a 13-year old to fly. To my surprise, he told me that HE
started taking lessons when he was 13!

He also joined Civil Air Patrol, and did a number of other things, including
spending a couple of weeks at OSH every year. He's now a CFI-I, and
working himself up the ladder.

I think I might send my kid up with him, just to see how it goes. He'll
try to feel him out, to see if the motivation is really there yet.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On 3/22/04 8:32 PM, in article ,
"Jim Fisher" wrote:

No advice here except to say that I sure hope your youngun' can grok what a
lucky little ******* he is. I sure wish I would have had such a chance at
that age. My gosh what a profound impact learning aviation would have had
had I been exposed to it earlier!

Good luck to your and yours.

--
Jim Fisher


I'll second that.
What I've gained by learning to fly at my advanced age, very likely would
have changed my life profoundly in direction and scope if it had been
learned as a child.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
www.wizardofdraws.com
www.cartoonclipart.com