Finding a flying partner

[Skybrd]

I wonder how many pilots fly by themselves since their better half doesn't like flying. My wife doesn't like flying and can come up with the most excuses to keep from going flying. I've met some other pilots that have flying girl friends and I think what a lucky guy they are. I had one nice lady to take flying but later she said she needed another lady to accompy her since she said it wasn't appropriate since we were both married. I took that to mean having a chaperone which I didn't like. What do you think, should a guy take a lady for airplane rides if the wife won't fly with him or just go solo? BTW, the lady friend I took flying had a husband that weighed too much for taking along.

[N601RX]

Taking a lady flying would get most wives interested in flying.

[chrisk]

I've never understood how some women can talk around a subject without actually getting to the point.   Somehow men are supposed to magically infer what they really want.   To me, it sounds like your lady friend is making excuses. Who knows why.  Maybe she really thinks it looks inappropriate. Or she is worried about a problem at home, or with your wife, or with you.  Or what ever.

 

My advice is to find another pilot and go shoot some instrument approaches, go to a fly in, or some other adventure.

[Jamie]

How many pilots knowingly marry non-flying spouses? For me that'd be a deal breaker... just like being overweight, smoking, etc.

[Marauder]

I thought that was the reason most guys learned to fly -- so they didn't need to take their wives with them My wife likes to fly. If my wife didn't like to fly, I think I would have a difficult (notice I didn't say "hard") time taking a woman flying on a regular basis married or not.

[bumper]

My wife likes to fly to get somewhere. Go fly just for the fun of it - - nope. I guess I'm fortunate she'll get in the plane, huh? She likes flying in the Husky more than the Mooney . . . tough to understand them womens,

 

bumper

[Jeff_S]

+1.  My wife was a steadfast refusal to fly with me until she learned how easy it is to get to practically any beach on the Southeast coast. Once she realized that then flying was no problem for destinations. But going out for the $100 hamburger has no appeal for her. To me, that's probably the best of both worlds.  She sees enough value and utility in the plane so there is no pressure to get rid of it, but I get my "man time with friends" to do the fun flying as well.

[1964-M20E]

My wife is the same she will fly to go somewhere and has even flown with me for a doughnut run or two. I have brought other women and people flying with no problems from my wife. Maybe she is just happy I’m leaving her alone. :-))

[Mooneymite]

This is a funny topic in our house.  My wife is in that category which flies to get somewhere, not for the joy of flying, but we do fly a lot of places together.  Even though we live in a fly-in community, she just isn't into planes and can't tell a Mooney from a DC-3.

 

My wife has a horse.  I'm not crazy about horses and can't pick her horse out of the herd, they all look the same to me; however, I have to admit, that if it was a question of walking into town, or riding a horse, I'd ride the stupid horse.

 

One thing we both agree on, is that the horse isn't going anywhere in the Mooney.

[DrBill]

My wife has no interest in flying in my plane although she supports me 100%.  She reluctantly flys the BIG JETS !   I was flying before we met and she had a bad experience as a kid flying with a family friend.   When we started a family I agreed to take a hiatus from flying until they were out of college.  When the youngest was out (Embry Riddle grad, now Piedmont Airlines Pilot), she suddenly said to me, you can go back flying now.  25 years off, I was back in the saddle after 10 hrs of dual and signed off.  I bought a Sundowner with another pilot and we had it for 7 years.  When he lost his medical, he agreed to sell the plane, which he did.  The wife surprised me with, "What are you going to fly now?",   I told her I would rent and she said that I should buy a plane that I wanted and enjoy myself.   When we went to look at the Mooney, she got no closer than 10 ft, as if it would suck her into it and said "It looks nice".

That was 3 years ago now and I've not looked back.   I fly mostly either dual for currency or flying dogs for Pilots N Paws with a friend.  Most of my long trips are alone visiting friends or relatives.  Going to Gettysburg on July 5th to see the re-enactment with my Brother-in-Law (he's driving from Vermont), then Oshkosh.

If I had to do it again, I'd marry someone who flew.

 BILL

[Hank]

I guess I lucked out--she swears she had no idea I wanted to fly anything but RC models until I "suddenly" started lessons . . . But she supports me, encourages me to stay current, and really enjoys traveling. She insists she is not interested in learning to fly but has agreed to learn how to land "just in case," but she wants to do it in the Mooney instead of the flight school rental that I would prefer. [beat up their plane, not my retractable gear! At least until she is landing under control.]

 

Getting home to see her parents or to the beach in just a couple of hours vs. 8-10 hours in the car really won her over. It has changed our lives for the better, and enables us to see much more of this wonderful country than we could by car or the airlines. In our group of flying friends, she has an excellent reputation as a traffic spotter, finding them from the back seat about the same time that ATC calls them out and before two of us up front see anything . . . With eyes like hers, I'd have been a military pilot and had a whole different life.

 

I'm not sure how much she enjoys the actual flying part, but she does like going places together in the plane. Lucky me!!

[Becca]

With only 6% of licensed pilots women, most men will end up marrying non-pilot partners.  My two closest female pilot friends have husbands that do not fly airplane and have no interest in flying, this, I think, is part of the reason both of them are taking a "break" from their flying hobby since they're caring for pre-K children.

 

I fly with men not my husband all the time.  In fact, that's how we ended up with our airplane partner, he and I enjoyed flying together recreationally for things husband found boring (amazing what a 400 hr pilot finds interesting that an 8000 hr pilot finds boring - for instance, like your wives, he far prefers trips to $100 hamburgers, I occasionally like boring holes in the sky) even before we bought an airplane.   He has a girlfriend who sometimes comes with us, sometimes not, however, she does seem to enjoy flying she is just frequently busy with work and her other hobbies.  Sometimes other guys come too, or sometimes my girlfriends (even non-pilot ones, I work in a community of aerospace professionals, so most people, men and women, are at least interested in riding along).

 

I guess it all depends on personality.  Probably a bit of a generational thing too.

[fantom]

How many pilots knowingly marry non-flying spouses? For me that'd be a deal breaker... just like being overweight.....

 

You have much to learn grasshopper

 

My girl friend loved to fly; my wife - not so much; my girlfriend had a great figure; my wife - not so much. They are the same person!

 

As Don Henley of the Eagles sang in "How Bad Do You Want It",  'But time passes, things change You might get restless, I might get strange'.

[Jamie]

My girl friend loved to fly; my wife - not so much; my girlfriend had a great figure; my wife - not so much. They are the same person!

 

Heh. There's a lesson there alright.. don't get married.

[Mooney65E]

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. My wife likes to fish, hunt and fly. She even helps me wrench on the plane once in a while. But occasionally she'd rather spend time in her flower garden or shopping with her friends. For those times there's always someone hanging around the airport willing to go for a ride (dosen't have to be a female), or I log on to Socialflight.com to see what events are happening at surrounding airports.

[rbridges]

just my 2 cents, but I would never invite trouble.  I wouldn't fly with another woman in my plane.  Bring a kid or a friend.  That's just something my preacher has mentioned about social situations, so it's my personal guideline.  

[kmyfm20s]

My wife used to love flying with me to destinations but not since we had kids. Unfortunately I lost my father in a midair before my kids where born which obviously tainted her view of flying(mine to for a couple of years). She kept flying with me after that but once the kids where born, no more flying for her. I have multiple offices in southern California that I commute to weekly in my plane and usually bring along 1 or 2 assistants with me. They hate when I make the no go call, they perfer to fly over driveing. They are always up for doing a side cruise on the way back from the offices along the coast or the mountains. The assistants I take are very non threatening to my wife but I have a few other assistants that she would send out a few interceptors to ground me if I took them up in the plane. It a great hiring guild line that they have to fit in the airplanes W&B envelope:)

[Mooneymite]

My "other plane" is a Hatz....due to weight and balance considerations, the passenger can only be a blonde female weighing 125, or less.

 

I fly it solo a lot.

 

[Becca]

My "other plane" is a Hatz....due to weight and balance considerations, the passenger can only be a blonde female weighing 125, or less.

 

I fly it solo a lot.

 

 

The average weight of a woman in the US is 167 lbs, and even in other countries its in the 150 lbss.   If you look at 25-75 percentile of the adult female population you are looking at 140-180 lbs or so.   So if your criteria is women < 125 lbs and likes flying (even worse if its "licensed pilot", which is only 6% of the entire licensed pilot population), you are shooting yourself in the foot.  Actually maybe more than the foot. 

 

As for the so-called weight and balance limitations, I've found male pilots are quick to point out their weight and balance limitations when discussing a size 10, short, 150 lb woman while telling his 6'1" 200 lbs best buddy and his golf clubs to jump right in.  Trust me a variation on this theme appears on aviation forums at a surprising clip and is never matched with the counter point of the other threads of "why don't more women like flying".

 

Do what you will with that information, but don't bemoan with one side the lack of women flying companions while on the other side being neanderthals by judging women entirely on one part of their looks.  If you want women to feel welcome in the cockpit, be welcoming.

[kmyfm20s]

Did I mention I had to loose some weight to keep my 180 lbs'r flying with me:)

[fantom]

......don't bemoan with one side the lack of women flying companions while on the other side being neanderthals by judging women entirely on one part of their looks.  If you want women to feel welcome in the cockpit, be welcoming.

 

I agree Byron, but at least I don't have to split stick time 50/50, like you do.

[fantom]

Basically a hundred grand man cave  Why did you change your board name, Jim?

In spite of the fact that I often carry passengers (primarily my family), the cockpit is my sanctuary and I prefer whenever possible to worship alone.

 

 

[Mcstealth]

What was it that the Reverand Billy Graham said? Something along the lines of ....'not even go out to lunch by himself with another female that wasn't his wife. Would not disrespect God and his wife in doing such an act'.

 

I am of the same mind. Just too many negative connotations could be infered when with a female that isn't your wife in, an "intimate" scenario. I respect my wife in this sense/matter and would not go there.

 

This is just me.

 

David

[Ned Gravel]

I am a lucky man.  My girl loves to fly with me.  She is generally asleep within the first 10 minutes after take off and wakes up 20 to 30 minutes later.  The more bumps the better. 

 

She took the pinch hitter course when I was flying welded-gear Cherokees and Cessnas 20 years ago, but she is now less comfortable trying to do things from the right seat of a manual gear Mooney.  When we go on long cross countries I pull out the emergency checklist that has her doing the work because the pilot is now "incapacitated."  We will then practice the procedures and we have come to the decision that if I am out, she will not need to worry about the gear.  I have even got her to do it all until quarter mile final.  With a little more encouragement she should be able to learn how to do that part to.  Just not right now.

 

When that day comes, she will practice with one of the best instructors I know, the Chief Flight Instructor of our club.  And she will do fine.  

 

She does not really want a licence, but she does want to share the experience with me - a la Richard Bach.  I really like that.

[rbridges]

Well, my aeronautical man cave was a little less expensive than that, but that is exactly the right idea!  I'll be sure to tell that to my wife.  It is so true!

 

After five years I was just ready for a little change. As you know I am a lover of all things aviation and of freedom of flight.  I hope that the new screen name reflects that.

 

Jim

 

I didn't catch the name change.  I've gotten to where I recognize you by the plane.