Leaderboard

I started flying lessons when my older child was not quite 2, and his sister was 6 weeks old. The children's father suggested it as a go-at-own-speed excuse to get out of the house, which, he insisted was bound to be cheaper than psychiatry. Eventually we found ourselves as part owners of a Skyhawk which shortened trips to see far flung relatives, and even more eventually wound up with our current ride, a 1980 Mooney 231. Now THAT turned out to be the real magic carpet, and so it continues to be, more than two decades later. Our kids grew up in that airplane, and got a fair amount of mileage out of My Mom's Airplane (small town strange but coolness). Now those youngsters have children of their own, who also have logged a fair amount of Mooney time. I have learned a lot about flying with kids. Thing 1: Mild hypoxia is a fine cure for sibling rivalry. Nothing like a turbo Mooney to get to FL Peace-and-Quiet, about 12000 feet, in a hurry. Thing 2: Cross-country Mooney flights are more interesting teachers of geography, geology, meteorology, etc., than textbooks. Thing 3: Four hours in a Mooney beats two long days in a car by a long way, and makes all sorts of three-day-weekends out of expeditions that would have required at least a week off work otherwise. My husband has done several hours of right-seat training over the years, and he's a bright level-headed fellow who would doubtless survive his own landing, but has no desire to compete for the left seat. The kids? Neither has any desire to learn, but are happy to come along or send their own little ones. The least grandson, now 5, is especially enthusiastic about all things with wings. And I still hear from our many exchange students who marvel in retrospect at what an amazing opportunity they were given while they were part of our family. Expensive? You bet. As my CFII consoled my spouse, who was appalled at the price of Jepps at the time, "Honey, you got to remember. Exciting women ARE expensive." But what we spent on avgas we didn't spend on fine cars, pretty clothes, golf, and luxury hotels. You pays yer money and takes yer choice.

They have copilots and the copilots can be heads down and following checklists to the nut. We are by ourselves and don't have time to look at a checklist on an approach. Let them do their thing. We still need acronyms to make sure the gear goes down every time.