Hints for parents of 13 year old student pilot?

My son, age 13, is planning to take flight lessons this summer. My wife and
I are both pilots, so he has been flying since birth.

Any parents out there gone through the same experience? My concerns a

1. Training Program. His training need to be thorough, but not dull and too
"book oriented." I don't want him to burn out.

2. Structure. He's a typical 13 year old -- one minute mature, the next
minute a scatter-brain. He learns best in a structured environment, which
is something I've noticed is lacking in most FBO-based training programs.
The problem, of course, is if it's too structured it may become dull, and
then we're back to #1.

3. Frequency. Given his inability to solo for a few years, I was thinking
that weekly lessons would be plenty. I know this slows the learning
process, but that's okay for now. Or do you think he'll lose interest at
that slow of a pace?

4. Instructor. Whoever teaches him is going to have to relate to a young
teenager. Considering the young age of most of our CFIs, this may not be a
problem. Or, they may not take him seriously. Or, worse, he might not take
*them* seriously.

It's really hard for me to tell if his interest is genuinely internal, or if
it's just coming from the fact that his mother and I are pilots. We've
assumed from birth that he and his sister would one day fly, just like we
assume that they will one day drive a car and go to college, so it's not
like he's got this unusually strong, burning desire to fly. Heck, he's been
flying right seat since he was 8 years old, so it's kind of "old hat" to
him, and he, too, has always just "assumed" he would learn to fly.

But flying is serious business, and I want to make sure he becomes safe and
proficient.

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!

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

1) Start with sailplanes. Solo at 14 (if he is ready for it)
2) Find an instructor that is a school teacher or retired school teacher (they
will have a better understanding of the methods that will work best with a
young mind)
3) Navigation... give specific directions for the information you want. Begin
by setting him in front of the computer and walk him through the process. Walk
away and come back, ask how things are going, heap lots of praise on what a
good job he is doing, etc. When he says he has everything, sit down and explain
what you are looking for and why. If you see something that raises a flag that
you want to explore a little more, explain why and sit down at the computer
again and walk him through the source of additional information, why/what is
different and helps you in your decision process. Talk about NOTAMS, the
information they contain and why you need to know it.
Preflight and inflight...
Map reading... review the route, looking for "obstacles" (MOAs, towers,
Restricted Areas, etc), don't let him peek at the big moving map display, make
him do it the old fashion way, match the ground features with the map. Teach
him the pencil and paper math, (wind triangles) before you introduce the whiz
wheel or calculator. Work W&B/CG calculations.
Introduce tasks one at a time on different flights to avoid information
overload. Back off at the first sign of frustration.

Come to think of it, Margie would make a really good instructor for your needs.
She already knows this stuff. She could write a sylabus.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:IyC7c.58287$_w.912977@attbi_s53...
My son, age 13, is planning to take flight lessons this summer. My wife
and
I are both pilots, so he has been flying since birth.

Any parents out there gone through the same experience? My concerns a

1. Training Program. His training need to be thorough, but not dull and
too
"book oriented." I don't want him to burn out.

2. Structure. He's a typical 13 year old -- one minute mature, the next
minute a scatter-brain. He learns best in a structured environment, which
is something I've noticed is lacking in most FBO-based training programs.
The problem, of course, is if it's too structured it may become dull, and
then we're back to #1.

3. Frequency. Given his inability to solo for a few years, I was thinking
that weekly lessons would be plenty. I know this slows the learning
process, but that's okay for now. Or do you think he'll lose interest at
that slow of a pace?

4. Instructor. Whoever teaches him is going to have to relate to a young
teenager. Considering the young age of most of our CFIs, this may not be
a
problem. Or, they may not take him seriously. Or, worse, he might not
take
*them* seriously.

It's really hard for me to tell if his interest is genuinely internal, or
if
it's just coming from the fact that his mother and I are pilots. We've
assumed from birth that he and his sister would one day fly, just like we
assume that they will one day drive a car and go to college, so it's not
like he's got this unusually strong, burning desire to fly. Heck, he's
been
flying right seat since he was 8 years old, so it's kind of "old hat" to
him, and he, too, has always just "assumed" he would learn to fly.

But flying is serious business, and I want to make sure he becomes safe
and
proficient.

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!

Thanks,

I've been through this both as a youngster myself, (see Reader's Digest
April 1985 "A Little Help From A Friend" ) and with parents who have
consulted with me through the years on this issue as it relates to teaching
their youngsters to fly.
It's not really a complex question, but it deserves a great deal of thought.
The first thing I've always addressed with the parents is the issue of
motivation. This can be a problem, especially if the parents are active in
the aviation community as both of you are. The issue needs to be viewed from
outside the box. You have to take yourselves and your influence out of the
equation and view the youngster's motivation completely as a separate
entity. This is extremely important, as it's completely normal for a young
person to want to please their parents by emulating and indeed expanding on
the parents interests. This can lead to trouble down the line if the
youngster goes into the program with this incentive, as it's a negative
incentive as far as flying is concerned. It's not a guaranteed major hit on
the negative side, but it could be a serious problem if the youngster is
intelligent; learns the rote functions; but is harboring some deep seated
negative issues or fears about flying. I only mention this to point you in a
direction that ended up with you being absolutely certain that all the
incentives and motivation involved are positive. Once this is done, and
you're sure he's positive instead of "wanting to please" the rest is easy.
For a 13 year old with the obvious experience your youngster would have
already gained through exposure to both of you, I would suggest an easing
into a structured program gradually rather than a sudden rush into
programmed training. Once you are satisfied that the motivation is positive
on it's own merits, I'd simply upgrade the way you approach the subject with
the "prospective student" while talking about flying, and when you are in
the air together. Start dealing with the issue more seriously and expect a
certain level of performance in return. Don't go overboard, but start
dealing with the subject more seriously with the youngster. While you're
doing this, I'd suggest looking around, if you haven't already done so, for
the best CFI you can find. Then bring this equation together and turn it
loose. Let the CFI deal with when to get into the structured end of things.
I'd suggest laying off the formal ground school for awhile. The ideal time
to get into that would be AFTER the youngster has experienced first hand
his/her OWN ABILITY to handle an airplane in various situations not
experienced before. It will be here that the interest level will accommodate
the comparatively boring but necessary ground school training. Also, the
ground school training should be timed so that it's completed just about
where it would be in a normal training cycle leading to the PPL check ride,
and that in this case will mean a short waiting period :-) I totally agree
with your reasoning on burn out. Also, the ground school training has to be
fresh, so it's best not to enter into it early just to get it out of the
way.
So there are two reasons to hold off on it right there.
Basically Jay, I'd just continue with what you're no doubt already doing.
Just up the expectation level like I said. The important thing is to nail
that motivation issue NOW!! You want to make absolutely sure that this kid
WANTS to learn to fly and isn't doing it for any other reason!!! I can't
stress enough the importance of this single issue.
Best of luck. I have a feeling you and your wife are on top of this already
and don't really need much help :-))
Dudley

I know you said, "this summer", but that is only 11 or 12 lessons at one per
week. The training will last well into the fall. Actually, the training will
last his whole life, but that's another matter.

I'd go talk to his teacher, telling exactly what is planned and how it is going
to unfold. If the teacher has anything at all on the ball, his English
assignments are going to be to write about some aspect of flying, his math is
going to involve the trigonometry of wind triangles, and his history will be to
chronicle flight from Daedaleus (sp?) to the Mars mission.

Just a thought, mind you.

Jim



"Jay Honeck"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-My son, age 13, is planning to take flight lessons this summer. My wife and
-I are both pilots, so he has been flying since birth.

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Oh, and the one thing I forgot was to have him sign up for both auto shop and
electronics shop so he can show his old man how to work on the damn thing.

{;-)


Jim


Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

I'd go talk to his teacher, telling exactly what is planned and how it is
going
to unfold. If the teacher has anything at all on the ball, his English
assignments are going to be to write about some aspect of flying, his math
is
going to involve the trigonometry of wind triangles, and his history will
be to
chronicle flight from Daedaleus (sp?) to the Mars mission.

Ah, Jim, you're dating yourself here.

At 13 nowadays, he's in "Junior High School" and doesn't have "a teacher" --
he has a fleet of 'em. One for each hour, in fact.

But I like the idea... I'll try to get in touch with at least a few of
them.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Oh, and the one thing I forgot was to have him sign up for both auto shop
and
electronics shop so he can show his old man how to work on the damn thing.

Yeah, he WILL take those classes in high school.

I attended a stupid Catholic high school in the '70s, and missed out on all
that. We were constantly struggling for money just to stay afloat. (Heck,
we even did several "Walk for St. Catherine's," where we would take per-mile
pledges, and walk 25 miles in an effort to keep the doors open...)

Needless to say, there was no "shop" class, or swimming class, or anything
that required extra money.

We had good discipline, though. ;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

You have to send your kids to a "vocational" school to learn those things in my
school district.
If you do that, you cannot take the college prep classes you need.
Ideally, I would send my kids to vocational school in the morning to learn a
trade, then regular high school in the afternoon for "book learnin". Alas, that
is not possible.

Jim Weir wrote:

Oh, and the one thing I forgot was to have him sign up for both auto shop and
electronics shop so he can show his old man how to work on the damn thing.

My son is only 10 and I'm really looking forward to teaching him to fly but
for now I find that I have to "pick my moments" when teaching him small bits
and pieces. At times he's simply not interested, other times he's
fanatical. When he comes to me with an aviation question, idea, or
statement, I make sure that I take the time to thoroughly answer him and
return his questions with questions of my own to make him think. When he's
not in the mood, sometimes all he wants is a quick answer from me. For now,
I'm letting him choose when and how much he wants to learn and know about
flying. There are plenty of areas within aviation that I can keep
introducing to him to keep his interest up, but I won't push it. He loves
the different museums and to be able to take a friend along to show off what
he knows, we try to hit a different museum each summer. Next year I'll
probably let him tag along to ground schools with me when he wants and he's
already attended some of the special Sunday morning sessions and has fun
explaining some of the things he knows to the students.

Even though I'm a part time CFI, my son and I don't get many opportunities
to fly together, so each time is still special to him, and I let him choose
when we go. (he's still too short to reach the rudder pedals when sitting
on enough cushions to see out the window) My approach is going to be to
take it slow, let him lead the way by showing me how and when he is
interested. Down the road, we'll do an occasional lesson, introduce him to
other aviation adventures like sailplanes, aerial applicators, and the EAA
Summer Camp at OSH.

My worst fear is giving him a complex thinking that just because "Dad" does
it that he has to do it. I don't want that. I want him to fly because HE
wants to fly and I'll give him every opportunity as well as my total support
and encouragement.

Let me know what you and Mary work out with your son and how it transpires.

--
Jim Burns III

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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:IyC7c.58287$_w.912977@attbi_s53...
My son, age 13, is planning to take flight lessons this summer. My wife and
I are both pilots, so he has been flying since birth.

Any parents out there gone through the same experience?

Not a parent, but I have known a several kids that started training
early. Unless you can start him on sailplanes, I think 13 is a bit
early. The problem is that there are no immediate goals. Solo in a
power plane is at least 3 years away (seems like a lifetime to a 13
yr. old), and a PPL is 4 yrs. away. Even at 1 lesson per week, it
will be hard to maintain progress (and interest) for that long.

I'm not saying it's sure not to work, but you have to take into
account the time lag between starting training and achieving the goal
(or even a major milestone like solo). It's not a big factor for kids
that are highly motivated to fly (by that I mean the ones who are
totally nuts about aviation), but it's not for everyone.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)