Young Eagles/Giving Youngsters Their First Rides: Memorable Moments

[WindOnHisNose]

I had breakfast with a good friend at the Wings Cafe in Brainerd, MN, and we were discussing the nuances of giving Young Eagle rides. He had an amazing number of experiences in doing so, and we got a great chuckle out of some of his experiences...

Barf Bag: He gave a youngster a ride and when they landed and taxied up to the ramp he helped the youngster out of the his aircraft and the person handed him a puke bag filled with...er...puke. The person asked him what he/she should do with it and he replied "That is your souvineer!" They laughed and he took care of it...

Radio malfunction: His ADF went on the fritz and it provided a very annoying buzz on the radios. He was flying a 172 and the three passengers were all sisters. He elected to return to the airport because of the sound and he was really sure they would never fly again. The next year all three returned and requested him as their pilot, and they had an uneventful flight!

Names: The youngster was a little fellow, pretty scrawny, and my friend introduced himself as "Kent". The little fellow had his headset on and he looked at the pilot and said "I think your name is pilot." My friend smiled and said, "Well, you can call me "Kent". The youngster sat there giving this some thought and said "I still think I'm going to call you Pilot".

I would like to hear any stories you have about giving Young Eagle or little kids rides.

Randy

[Bassackwards]

I took a family from my church on their first flights. The oldest was a boy and he asked a lot of questions and we had a good flight, then i took the youngest sister and she screamed with delight .at everything i did and that surprised me because she was very shy and quiet at church. Finally i took the middle sister who was a lot more outgoing. She was quiet and barely made one word replies to me. I decided in my mind she was scared and not enjoying the flight. I glanced back to see if she was ok and she was on her cell phone and not even looking out the window. I chided her about not looking out so she did turn her head and looked for about 15 seconds and then back to her phone. So i just landed . After she got out she just walked away looking at her phone.Mom did make her come back to the plane and thank me.

[hotrod180]

.... I glanced back to see if she was ok and she was on her cell phone and not even looking out the window. I chided her about not looking out so she did turn her head and looked for about 15 seconds and then back to her phone. So i just landed . After she got out she just walked away looking at her phone....

I've had the same sort of experience.
Hard to believe everyday phone use could top enjoying the novelty of an airplane ride,
but I suspect this is more widespread with today's kids than any of us would want to believe.

[krines]

Took a youngster flying once and I cant remember his age but I think it was 9. We were flying in my 170 which generally is very easy to see forward but this kid was definitely not tall enough to see forward. I wanted to let him fly so got close to the mountains. Let him take over and I would say to him to fly toward this peak and that peak. This kid just kept it up without any problem for 30-40 minutes. Altitude fairly consistent. I was shocked. Did not have to take the controls once. I guess some people are born to fly.

[ulpilot]

I took a young girl up for her first ride, think she was 9 or 10. We were in my J3, on a warm summer evening, so of course the door was open. She asked to fly over her house and school, the usual places youngsters want to see. Then she asked to fly over her best friends house, was a challenge finding it from a 10 year old girls description of the location, but we did find it, I think.

So as we are gently circling at 1200 ft AGL, she leans way out the door and starts screaming at the top of her lungs. "ANGIE ANGIE ITS MEGAN! I'M UP HERE IN AN AIRPLANE. ANGIE COME OUT AND LOOK UP!"

Try flying while you are in tears from laughing so hard, not easy.

[Mot]

When one of our EAA chapter members landed in his highly polished Ercoupe and taxied past a group of excited kids waiting for young eagles flights, one said "That's the one I want to ride in, that World War 2 fighter". I think he thought it was a P-38.

[JimParker256]

Our chapter has a few "interesting" planes that everyone wants to fly in... Probably the most-requested one is the "Stagger-EZ" that just looks "too cool for school" (according to the 10-year-old experts). Another one in high demand s an RV-12 built by the local high school aviation program. And last time around, we even had a Diamond DA-62 twin show up. He was able to fly one of the parents (back seat) along with their kid (co-pilot seat), and both had a great time. I'm hoping the kids will think my RANS S-6 will be a cool ride as well...

[gdrean]

There was a group of kids lined up for rides at our airport. Not sure of their affiliation, but ranged in age from about 7 to 14 I would guess. Was helping out giving rides in my Pa-18. My third ride was a tiny girl, maybe 7 or 8. COuld just barley look out the window of the back seat. My route was about 20 minutes out over the san diego coast a bit than back. I was very careful to have smooth inputs. No big banks or abrupt altitude changes. After turning back to the airport I asked if she would like to fly. Sure she said. She grabbed the stick and proceeded to go lock to lock. up and down also. Absolutely no fear. I let her "control" the plane, ruddering us back to the airport. Comes time to land and "I've got it" did not register to her at all. Glad she was only 7. She was easily overpowered and finally gave up the stick. Big smile on her face when she exited the plane. I must admit I enjoyed it also. Maybe another Patty Wagstaff!

[gdrean]

Reading the other post about Young Eagles made me think about the age reported in my post. I have been successful in figuring out the time that something happened in the past. I figure out about how much time has passed since the event then multiply by 2. Getting much closer now. So I suspect I need to do the reverse with age. Everyone seems young to me (unfortunately!). So she was probably 10 or 11!