Flying with small kids

Anyone have any experience taking small children flying for the first
time?

Did the kids start screaming the minute the wheels left the pavement
or were they pretty calm?

Bill

"Bill G" wrote in message
...
Anyone have any experience taking small children flying for the first
time?

Did the kids start screaming the minute the wheels left the pavement
or were they pretty calm?

Bill

How small?
I have 7, 4 and 2 year olds.
They all like to fly. No crying at all.
However, they have more interest when in the front seat, and tend to fall
asleep in the back.
The littlest one tends to take her headset off until she falls asleep.
When on trips they get bored easily.
When tooling around the area, the love steep turns, etc.

Adam
N7966L
Beech Super III

mindenpilot wrote:

"Bill G" wrote in message
...

Anyone have any experience taking small children flying for the first
time?

Did the kids start screaming the minute the wheels left the pavement
or were they pretty calm?

Bill


How small?
I have 7, 4 and 2 year olds.
They all like to fly. No crying at all.
However, they have more interest when in the front seat, and tend to fall
asleep in the back.
The littlest one tends to take her headset off until she falls asleep.
When on trips they get bored easily.
When tooling around the area, the love steep turns, etc.

Adam
N7966L
Beech Super III


I have over 200 EAA Young Eagle flights and not a problem with any of
them. As we taxi out I explain what will be happening. I also have 3
grandkids that really like to fly with grandpa, 10, 5, and 3. The 3 year
old has the most fun. I do put books in the back seat to keep them
occupied until the drone of the engine puts them to sleep. I made some
adapters that fit my adult headsets, so the headsets fit on the younger
heads. That has really helped. My biggest thought was that they would
want to pull the headsets off, but that has not been a problem.

--
Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP

"Ross Richardson" wrote in message
news
mindenpilot wrote:

I have over 200 EAA Young Eagle flights and not a problem with any of
them. As we taxi out I explain what will be happening. I also have 3
grandkids that really like to fly with grandpa, 10, 5, and 3. The 3 year
old has the most fun. I do put books in the back seat to keep them
occupied until the drone of the engine puts them to sleep. I made some
adapters that fit my adult headsets, so the headsets fit on the younger
heads. That has really helped. My biggest thought was that they would
want to pull the headsets off, but that has not been a problem.

Do you give them gum to chew?

I used that when my kids were four and up and never had a problem.

Only problem was when they became teenagers and started using Walkman
headsets and started bouncing to the music -- wrecked havoc with the W&B.
:~)

On Fri, 06 May 2005 00:58:58 GMT, Bill G wrote:

Anyone have any experience taking small children flying for the first
time?

Did the kids start screaming the minute the wheels left the pavement
or were they pretty calm?

Bill

Hi Bill,

My niece and nephew have been up with me at the young age of 1 1/2. First
trip was just around the pattern to see what their reaction would be.

Big mistake *smile* as my nephew lives and breathes airplane. My niece now
looks at it as "just another way of getting around".

Both were calm the first time, though the first time my nephew squawked
about getting in the plane. He didn't like the slope of the wing, and was
too "independent" to accept help. Once in, not a problem. We had bought a
child size headset, and he didn't mind it at all.

Both kids on their first cross country were great. It was a one hour
flight and right at 50 minutes, they did get fidgety, but once they felt
the plane start to descend, they seem to understand the trip was almost
over. Both wore headsets without any discomforts or problems.

Hope this helps.

Allen

Bill G wrote:
Anyone have any experience taking small children flying for the first
time?

Did the kids start screaming the minute the wheels left the pavement
or were they pretty calm?

I've done a number of "Young Eagles" flights. Kids are at least school age for
those. Reactions have varied -- a few do the screaming routine, as if it were a
carnival ride. I hit the pilot isolate button at that point. I've never had any
kid scream because they were scared. Usually there's silence during the roll.
Then about 300' AGL or so, somebody says "COOL!".

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

Had my 5 year old grandson start crying at about 2500 ft. Since then
I teach them how to clear their ears before flying. Never had a kid
that didn't love it.

Don Hammer wrote:
Had my 5 year old grandson start crying at about 2500 ft. Since then
I teach them how to clear their ears before flying. Never had a kid
that didn't love it.

Well, my stepson started blubbering once. Said he was homesick (we were about 2
hours away). Next thing I know, my wife is crying too. We were at 11,500'
crossing over the Dulles class-B at the time. I put it down to hypoxia.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

George Patterson wrote:
Don Hammer wrote:

Had my 5 year old grandson start crying at about 2500 ft. Since then
I teach them how to clear their ears before flying. Never had a kid
that didn't love it.


Well, my stepson started blubbering once. Said he was homesick (we were
about 2 hours away). Next thing I know, my wife is crying too. We were
at 11,500' crossing over the Dulles class-B at the time. I put it down
to hypoxia.

I thought hypoxia was supposed to make you happy? :-)

Matt

George Patterson wrote:

Usually there's silence during the roll.
Then about 300' AGL or so, somebody says "COOL!".

That happens even when I'm flying alone.

- Andrew