Shooting the Approach To Giving Your Grandchild Their First Flight...Tips?

I have waited and waited to be able to give my grandchildren an airplane ride, their first flight. While my daughter and my son both have flown with me for hundreds of hours growing up, their spouses have not, and I have chosen to let this sit awhile before asking their permission to go for a flight.

I would like to hear of your experiences, and approaches, to taking your grandchildren up for their first ride with you. I know that Lou Furlong waited until the child can get into and out of the aircraft by themselves, as a marker as to when they should go, but the parents are another issue altogether.


I appreciate any insights you might be willing to offer. In advance, no, I'm not going to give them a ride until I get their permission... This is not one of those "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission." :roll:

Randy

I would approach the son or daughter first and let them raise the subject with the in law....this provides a bit of insulation
Moms are fiercely protective so I would expect a no and hopefully be pleasantly surprised
Mine got strapped in the back seat of a Cessna on the way for a doctors appointment at the ages of 6 months and 2 years....with daughter in law in the right front
My RV8 was destroyed in a windstorm and I found another 8 months later. My grandson was about 12 then and on our first trip in the new 8 he said “Papa, this RV8 is a lot smaller than the first”. I said “it ain’t the airplane kid”.



Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org

Have to agree with FlynLow; with a little exception...

Don't ASK your kid first - TALK TO your kid first - about it. The difference being when you ASK - you're saying this is something you think it's time for. If you TALK TO them about it - it becomes much more THEIR idea. Your kids are going to remember their youth and the fun you no doubt provided for them. They will doubtless want that for their kids, but may not have gotten there yet. Day to day life gets in the way and if they don't have airplanes maybe it's not front and center in their minds. Have a nice no pressure discussion with them and let them decide. Heck you may even want to just say "I'm ready to give (insert grandkid name here) his/her first ride whenever you say."

Best of luck with it - and don't forget to post pictures if/when it happens.]

WindOnHisNose said:

I have waited and waited to be able to give my grandchildren an airplane ride, their first flight. While my daughter and my son both have flown with me for hundreds of hours growing up, their spouses have not, and I have chosen to let this sit awhile before asking their permission to go for a flight.

I would like to hear of your experiences, and approaches, to taking your grandchildren up for their first ride with you. I know that Lou Furlong waited until the child can get into and out of the aircraft by themselves, as a marker as to when they should go, but the parents are another issue altogether.
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I appreciate any insights you might be willing to offer. In advance, no, I'm not going to give them a ride until I get their permission... This is not one of those "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission." :roll:

Randy

Click to expand...

Randy,

I have a solution that will work for you.

I'll bring my kids over, you can take them for a ride. The other kids will then be begging.

I'll only have you watch the kids for two days as payment for convincing your grandkids to go flying. I'm sure Shannon and I can find a B&B for a couple of nights....

Tim

I've given over 200 kids their first ride, some as young as 2 years old. Now my bottom line age is 6 years old. From my experience kids under 5 don't have a clue whats happening or going on. Its a waste of gas and you risk scaring them forever from flying again. Any age under 3 is just an ego trip for the pilot.



Glenn

behindpropellers said:

Randy,

I have a solution that will work for you.

I'll bring my kids over, you can take them for a ride. The other kids will then be begging.

I'll only have you watch the kids for two days as payment for convincing your grandkids to go flying. I'm sure Shannon and I can find a B&B for a couple of nights....

Tim

Click to expand...

You are such a generous friend, Tim! Thank you sooooo much!

I'm not worried about my grandkids wanting to go fly...those kids get to sit in the seat of the super cub every time they come to our house (which isn't often enough) and pretend they are "flying".

Randy

cubdriver2 said:

I've given over 200 kids their first ride, some as young as 2 years old. Now my bottom line age is 6 years old. From my experience kids under 5 don't have a clue whats happening or going on. Its a waste of gas and you risk scaring them forever from flying again. Any age under 3 is just an ego trip for the pilot.



Glenn

Click to expand...

I agree with you, Glenn, regarding the fact that kids under a certain age don't really "get it". I do think lifting even 2 year old kids into the cub and letting them move the stick and push buttons is a wonderful way to open the door to wanting to fly someday!

Randy

My nephew had his first ride in the 185 at 3 months in the arms of his mother.
He had his first flying lesson at age 3-1/2 in the 172 on floats sitting on my lap with both his parents in the other seats. He even made the very good landing.
Then when he was in college he took serious lessons in a J-3.
Now he is partners in a flying club Cherokee in which he takes his wife flying.

It's never too young to start.

It's a challenging area, for sure!

I'm the Young Eagles coordinator for my local EAA chapter. The EAA allows for 8-18 year olds to participate in Young Eagle flights, and that's what's covered by their insurance that covers you if you follow their program. By group consensus, our chapter raised the minimum age to 10 for our YE Rallies.

Personally, I will fly some 8 year olds (and most 9 year olds) provided I get to personally meet them and talk with them first. Then, if I believe they are mature enough to enjoy the flight AND to not do something stupid in the cockpit, I'll take them for a flight, and I'm still covered by the EAA insurance program.

That said, I've got granddaughters that are 8 and 10, and plenty mature enough for me to fly with them, but they have not flown yet. Oddly enough, my daughter (their mom) has never flown with me, either, since I didn't resume flying until well after she had gotten married and moved away. She did fly with her grandfather (my father-in-law) when she was about the age of her daughters, and seemed to enjoy it - but never really felt compelled to do it again. It's understood that "someday" her kids will go flying with me, but it just hasn't happened yet. They do, however, love to sit in the cockpit and make airplane noises.

My son, who has flown with me a fair amount, would LOVE for me to take his two kids (6 and 4) for a flight. But they are definitely NOT mature enough – they have the attention span of a crack addict and are highly impulsive! Besides, their mother is hyper-vigilant, scared to death of "those small planes", and I don't know if she will ever allow them to fly – with me or anyone else...

I talk with both of the kids (and the grandkids) about taking them flying someday, but I don't push it. It will happen when it happens. And if not – well, not every kid dreams of flying. I'm the only one in my family, for sure. (Though my great uncle was a WW2 dive-bomber pilot in the Pacific before he was KIA.)