First Flights

Monday, April 20, 2020 at 09:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

A pilot learned a critical lesson about passenger comfort after taking a first-time adult flyer and his 10-year-old son on a "proficiency" flight that included maneuvers.
Despite initial excitement and a thorough pre-flight brief, the pilot admits missing early signs of discomfort (silence on the intercom) while focused on flying, leading to both passengers becoming severely airsick.
The experience highlighted the importance of adapting flight plans to suit all passengers, particularly first-timers and children, to ensure a positive introduction to flying and prevent unexpected negative reactions.

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I love flying and, like many of you reading this, I enjoy sharing it with others. I regularly invite family or friends for a flight. For all but one of these flights, things have gone well. I can’t fully describe how vivid the lesson I learned was for the one flight that went awry.

Picture this: I arrange with a friend to fly her husband, who I’ll call Bob, for his first flight in my Cessna 172. The whole family arrives: friend, her husband, son and daughter, all to absorb the occasion. I plan to take him on one of what I call my “proficiency” flights, with some maneuvering and a few landings and takeoffs at a nearby practice field. It all sounds very fun and we decided to bring his 10-year-old son, who I’ll call Bobby.