A Scary Prospect -- What to do?

Thus, we hope he'll be taking flight lessons this summer, assuming all
goes
well with his grades. He thinks he's ready, and I hope he earns his
glider rating before next school year starts.

All well and good, but the magnitude of this endeavor had truly not sunk
in until he quite innocently said:

"Just think, Dad, in two years I'll be able to take a date out in the
plane!"

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I just laughed -- but this brings
up a serious point that I've never seen addressed here. For those of you
who own aircraft, and have kids that have learned to fly, how did you
handle "borrowing the plane"? I mean, it's not quite the same as letting
him take the pickup down to the corner grocery...

Do you guys let your kids fly your plane?
--
Jay Honeck

Wow! What a conundrum. I doubt any of else can help much with
something as subjective as this. I'm not qualified to cite experiences. My
youngest is 38 and none of the four fly
I'm pretty sure you are level-headed enough to know whether your son is
or isn't the type that would say, "Hey! Watch this!" in order to impress a
peer. That's probably all you need to know. With as much stick time as he
has, I'm also pretty sure he doesn't relate Atlas to an X-Box.
Heeheehee, ain't daddying fun?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:BSuUd.70922$tl3.52178@attbi_s02...
All well and good, but the magnitude of this endeavor had truly not sunk
in until he quite innocently said:

"Just think, Dad, in two years I'll be able to take a date out in the
plane!"

LOL!
My wife and I got a kick out of this!
But, seriously, I let my 6.5 year old fly all the time.
I don't let her take off or land, but she can do steep turns almost by
herself (she's not quite strong enough to keep enough back pressure).
She held a heading from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe.
I can't wait until *she* wants to take a date for a ride in the plane...
Wait...yes I can!

Adam
N7966L
Beech Super III

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
"Just think, Dad, in two years I'll be able to take a date out in the
plane!"

No. You take dates to the roller rink, where they have signs up that say: No
Heavy Petting.


I mean, it's not quite the same as letting him take the pickup down to the
corner grocery...

In that purple gasoline tanker?? g

I bet many more answers to your questions will be revealed the closer he
gets to soloing.


Montblack

heh, heh, heh... This is hysterically funny (old dad type, sons and
daughter)...

OK, you've had a ton of well reasoned advice... Now I will give you the
the real life pearl, here...
DISABLE THE AUTO PILOT!

cheers ... denny

I can't wait until *she* wants to take a date for a ride in the plane...
Wait...yes I can!

Yeah, right behind my boy is my 11-year old daughter.

Thus far, she has shown little interest in flying -- but that could change .
Then I'll have TWO problems to deal with...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In that purple gasoline tanker?? g

Hmm. Good point. That truck probably IS way more dangerous than the plane.

;-)

I bet many more answers to your questions will be revealed the closer he
gets to soloing.

No doubt. But will my heart be up to the stress?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Just think, Dad, in two years I'll be able to take a date out in the
plane!"

Breathe easy Jay, he'll have to be 17 before he can take his date in Atlas,
so that will give you a little more time to worry. He and his date will
have to practice in the glider for a year. Unless of course, his date is
his instructor!

Seriously, I'd worry more about the instructor that you and your family
choose for your son. I'd look for a well seasoned type that has sucseffuly
taught plenty of young impressionable zero time teenagers. Experiance with
teaching specifically young people to fly will be invaluable. Mood swings,
lack of motivation, clouded thinking, zoneing out, forgetting appointments
are all things that every instructor has to deal with, but with teenagers
they all happen much more frequently. A patient, caring, and understanding
instructor will be a must!

If you can find one that also is an A&P that can put your son to work around
the shop to help earn his flying time, all the better. The more experiance
around airplanes, not just Atlas, the better. He'd get a very good
understanding about why you don't do this or do that while flying from
seeing the insides of some of the local planes.

The seriousness of the potential consiquences of inapproriate actions must
be instilled deeply into a young pilots mind. I know one father CFI that
was teaching his son to fly. He was very serious about never getting the
airplane in any unsafe condition. One day after his son skidded around the
corner of death while turning base to final and behind the power curve, the
father announced "Great, you just killed us." On the ground he explained
the problem, what and why it happened, then told his son to type up a
funeral announcement for both of them and to show it to his mother. When
his mother asked why they were dead, his father made the son explain it to
the mother. Sometimes getting through the thick know it all skull of a
teenager requires drastic or dramatic methods. Find an instructor that will
do what ever it takes to make your son a safe pilot. Once he get's his
ticket, demand frequent recurrent training. Someday he'll be in the left
seat, his girl in the right, and mom and dad in the back.

Jim

Jay,

Others have talked about the insurance and liability issues. This is my
view from a slightly different perspective:

If his instructor and the FAA think he's ready to be a real pilot and take
passengers, then he's probably ready. Let him go. My father, a long time
Air Force pilot (http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/Dad.html) never wanted any
of his kids (3 boys) to fly. We all ended up getting our tickets, although
our youngest brother got his glider ticket only (and the only one who did it
with Dad's acquiesence and support), and I waited nearly too long. Even so,
Dad tried to discourage me from getting my license at 56. I was "too old"
by then. He died two weeks before I soloed.

I think Dad never was able to decouple in his mind our adolescent
irresponsibility from the maturity we all eventually developed. He just
assumed that we were still the goofy, dangerous teenagers he suffered with
when we were young. Too bad. Never being able to let go was always a block
to our developing much more than an adversarial relationship with him. He
was even trying to run our lives from his bed the last couple of years of
his life.

Don't let this sort of thing happen with you and your kids. Get them the
best training they can have. Let them experience as much of life as you
can, while you're still able to have some modicum of control. Show them how
to live a full and responsible life. Prepare them for complete independence
from you, and then let them go. They're going to go eventually anyway,
whether you want them to or not, so you might as well prepare them the best
you can first. You'll find that they come back as great friends.

I am reminded of a story Susan Stamberg related on NPR one time. A woman
had just helped her daughter move into her first college dorm. They said
goodby, and as the woman prepared to head back home, she sat in the car and
watched her daughter walk back into the dorm. With tears in her eyes, she
whispered after her daughter, "OK, now fly."
--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:BSuUd.70922$tl3.52178@attbi_s02...
Mary and I have tried very hard to treat flying as an uncommon -- but
perfectly normal -- family activity, and that's all my kids have ever
known.
My 14-year-old son has 13 hours in his logbook, and can climb, descend and
hold altitude, track a heading, determine the proper runway to land on,
and
(I suspect) probably land the plane -- although I've never let him get
below
200 feet on final approach. To him, flying a light plane is no greater
challenge than beating the latest Playstation game, and going for a plane
ride is something he's done over 400 times in his short life...

Thus, we hope he'll be taking flight lessons this summer, assuming all
goes
well with his grades. He thinks he's ready, and I hope he earns his
glider
rating before next school year starts.

All well and good, but the magnitude of this endeavor had truly not sunk
in
until he quite innocently said:

"Just think, Dad, in two years I'll be able to take a date out in the
plane!"

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I just laughed -- but this brings
up
a serious point that I've never seen addressed here. For those of you who
own aircraft, and have kids that have learned to fly, how did you handle
"borrowing the plane"? I mean, it's not quite the same as letting him
take
the pickup down to the corner grocery...

Do you guys let your kids fly your plane?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Are you afraid for your airplane or your child or the cost? Or all three?
In one sentence you are positive about the idea of him taking flying
lessons. In another you are worried about him using your airplane to go
flying in. I'm a long way from facing this issue as my children are 7, but
I think that I will either trust their judgement or not. If I trust their
judgement, they can use the airplane. I don't know how I will handle the
cost. On one hand, you don't want to provide them with thousands of dollars
to fly around and impress their friends, but on the other, you want them to
be competent and they can't be without flying frequently. 16yr olds can't
afford to pay for much flying and I'd rather have them do well in school.

I would be particularly concerned about flying dates. There is too much
potential for distraction.

Mike
MU-2


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:BSuUd.70922$tl3.52178@attbi_s02...
Mary and I have tried very hard to treat flying as an uncommon -- but
perfectly normal -- family activity, and that's all my kids have ever
known. My 14-year-old son has 13 hours in his logbook, and can climb,
descend and hold altitude, track a heading, determine the proper runway to
land on, and (I suspect) probably land the plane -- although I've never
let him get below 200 feet on final approach. To him, flying a light
plane is no greater challenge than beating the latest Playstation game,
and going for a plane ride is something he's done over 400 times in his
short life...

Thus, we hope he'll be taking flight lessons this summer, assuming all
goes well with his grades. He thinks he's ready, and I hope he earns his
glider rating before next school year starts.

All well and good, but the magnitude of this endeavor had truly not sunk
in until he quite innocently said:

"Just think, Dad, in two years I'll be able to take a date out in the
plane!"

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I just laughed -- but this brings
up a serious point that I've never seen addressed here. For those of you
who own aircraft, and have kids that have learned to fly, how did you
handle "borrowing the plane"? I mean, it's not quite the same as letting
him take the pickup down to the corner grocery...

Do you guys let your kids fly your plane?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

The Grape carries more gas. Bigger explosive potential.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Colin W Kingsbury" wrote in message
ink.net...

Apparently the insurance companies think he's a bigger risk in the truck
than the plane.