This month’s Blogging in Formation topic is “Dealing with Passengers.”
As a flight instructor, most of my “passengers” are not passengers, at least not as that is normally defined. My passengers are actively learning to fly, and to – over time – become NOT passengers but pilots.
So I don’t have as much experience with passengers as many of the other formation bloggers, but I do have a very memorable passenger who I would like to talk about in today’s post: my daughter, Wynnie!
Wynnie is two and a half years old, and I was recently able to take her (and her two cousins) up for their first flight.
Her cousins are five and three, and all three of them really enjoyed their first flight!
It was a very simple flight – we took off from KOSU (The Ohio State University Airport), turned north, and flew circles low over the Columbus Zoo (one of the places all the kids love to visit).
All three of the kids loved the flight!
What was most interesting to me was that getting them in the plane was not just about their first flight and whether they would like it, but their reactions and behavior during the flight was eye-opening for me, as well!
It was very interesting to see Wynnie’s personality emerge (or amplify) in her carseat in the back of the C172.
At first, on the way to the zoo, Wynnie was stoic. Looking straight ahead, there was no emotion on her face. When I turned around and asked her if she was having fun, her face lit up! “Yes!” she said, beaming.
Then her face went right back to the poker-face she had on before.
She looked out the window as we banked around the zoo and over the river, as did her cousins, whose reactions were no less telling then hers. You could see the logic and passion and curiosity come alive in all three of them, in differing degrees.
Notwithstanding her stoicism, my wife and I joke that Wynnie is definitely my daughter, since the flying bug has bitten her as early and as strongly as it did me. She has the “pilot’s curse” of having to look up and locate every aircraft we hear as it flies above.
When we visited my father-in-law in Raleigh, North Carolina, we also went to visit a nearby airport in the hopes that we would fly in (in a couple hours) instead of driving in (about 10-hours on the road). When we got near the airport, a plane was holding short of the runway for takeoff, and Wynnie said “That’s Daddy’s airplane! I’m so excited!”
We talked to a few people and looked around at the amenities. Wynnie and Granddad watched airplanes for a bit, and then we started to get in the car to go.
Wynnie didn’t want to go, because she thought we were going to go for an airplane ride. And when I say she didn’t want to go, I mean she REALLY didn’t want to go. We’re talking TOTAL MELTDOWN. It took both my wife and me holding her down in her carseat to get her strapped in so we could finally leave, while I promised her that we would take lots more airplane rides, just not today.
I know how she feels. A girl after my own heart!
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Don’t miss the rest of the Blogging in Formation posts:
March 1: Saturday:
Brent Owens – iFLYblog
Mark L Berry – marklberry.com/blog
March 2: Sunday:
Andrew Hartley – Smart Flight Training
Rob Burgon – http://tallyone.com
March 3: Monday:
Karlene Petitt – Flight to Success
Chip Shanle – www.project7alpha.com
March 4: Tuesday:
Eric Auxier – Adventures of Cap’n Aux
Ron Rapp – House of Rapp
If you like what you see, share us with your friends: #blogformation
I know exactly how she feels — I’ve had a meltdown or two myself over the years when a pleasant flight was replaced by a horrific drive through Socal traffic. :)
Ron:
I have that meltdown in my own head every time I leave the airport. :)
Andrew – I couldn’t help but smile and laugh as I read your article. My 3 year old also has the pilot’s curse and I’ve had to fight many a tantrum leaving any place that has airplanes. I sure hope the flying bug stays with them until they get old enough to jump in the cockpit! Great article!
That is so sweet! How adorable!
Like Rob, I smiled the whole time I read it.
Brent
Andrew, this is such a great post. The reason we take girls flying for two days each year is to spark this joy in someone who may not have a chance otherwise. So nice to know we have another pilot in the making. Thank you for sharing and the photos are priceless.
Rob & Brent:
Thanks! I have a feeling Wynnie may be one of those private pilot before driver’s license kids… if there’s anything I have to say about it. ;)
Karlene: It’s funny, but half of my active PPL students are female right now. And I had 3 female CFIs when I was working on my PPL. So I know that women are underrepresented in aviation, but it’s hard for me to not have cognitive dissonance when I look at those statistics, since I’ve known many women who fly (or at least are in the industry, whether thry fly or not), and the vast majority of them have been amazing at what they do.
Wynnie will fit in well with that group, I think.
Andrew… Wynnie will fit well in that group for sure! Keep up the motivating everyone. It’s your openness that is making this a reality in your life.
My oldest had his first flight in a Cessna 182, about 28 years ago. he was just a couple months old!