Family flights

[Troy Hamon]

After getting back from the checkride, I took my partner in this wild aviation adventure out for his first taste of the plane. Since then, between weather and work, there really hasn't been any good opportunities to get the family in the air. But tomorrow looks different. It appears that a blessed reduction in wind and snottiness will give us an opportunity to go for a few little flights.

Of course, we could go for just one big happy family flight, but wife, son, and daughter all want the copilot seat. So, three flights it is. My plan is to take each for a short tour of the area, if the weather is really nice. I don't want them remembering being sick on their first trip in the plane, so we'll see. Daughter wants to fly up the river where we went moose hunting. Son wants to see the lodge we visited this summer on the lake. My wife wants a volcano tour, but that is not going to happen until a CAVU calm day, so it could be a year. She'll have to settle for something shorter this time.

[Steve Pierce]

Awesome Troy. Share your enthusiasm and you might have another couple of pilots on yours hands or at least some good co-pilots. Cathy started out just wanting to learn how to land and now she is flying me over for my Flight Physical since I let it Bingo the end of February. Take some pictures so we can see the smiles and scenery.

[cammons3]

Been watching your progress from the shadows. Most excellent. Keep it up, and please share! Also, best of luck with the family involvement. My wife is great with the plane right up until we start taxiing out...

http://www.shortwingpipers.org/forum...-for-checkride

[Troy Hamon]

Well, we had a great day of flying. Ended up making three flights, logged 4.7 hours between them, so I guess they weren't really very short. I did finally get the kids to take separate back seat turns, which meant we got more people in the air. First flight ended up being a couple of guests that are staying with us, our ministers, and we flew the route my daughter wanted to take. Test flew it, basically. It was beautiful out, so we just cruised along, checking out the old cannery developments, looking at the Alagnak River, then up behind Sugarloaf Mountain to come home. At that point, I was met by my son and the wife of my partner Paul, who hopped in and off we went. This time, we flew out to Brooks Camp, because that was what my son wanted to see. Brooks River is totally open and flowing, the falls looks strangely empty with no bears on it, but that will change come July. Then we flew on to Headwaters Creek at the end of Brooks Lake, across to the upper end of Big Creek, then followed that back home. Never did find a moose, but most of the moose spotters I know fly pretty low, and that's not in the cards for me. I've been holding at 1,000 agl as my lower limit, usually a couple hundred feet higher. Not good for moose spotting, but I'm no expert bush pilot yet, and that extra bit of altitude is a good thing. But for a flight see I also didn't want to fly so high that there were no ground features. Anyway, my son lost consciousness just before we got back to King Salmon, officially becoming my first passenger to fall asleep. Finally, I took my wife and daughter on a repeat of the first flight, except we went a little further up the river and didn't come back over the mountain, because it was cloud-shrouded up there and the sun was going down. So we scooted home in the dusk and had my best landing of the day. Saved it for my wife. Couldn't have planned it better. I haven't even got a knockabout digital camera, so Steve I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you on that score for now. My wife took a camera, and it was a stunning evening, but the batteries died almost immediately, so not much to show for that. But it was a great day. Pretty smooth air, low-angle sun on snow, just about as good as it gets. And cold. Definitely cold, around 0 F for the most part. I've tried to explain how to dress to other folks, but I think my wife might understand now...she got a bit chilly. Of course I'd sit closer to try to warm her up...but how do you actually sit any closer than with the two of us already crammed in a PA-22? A riddle for another time...

[JohnW]

Troy, now yer talkin'. This is part of what life is all about!

Now, just don't start thinkin' your Joe Pilot...keep it in the back of your mind that learnin' about flyin' has just begun for you. Don't even THINK you've begun to know all there is until you get way past 200 hours under your belt. By then, you will have learned a few things that'll trim your sails just a little. Even then, the day you stop learning is the day you died.

Let the Good Times roll (...and "Welcome to my World" -not that I'm the only one able to say that, by a long shot!).

[Steve Pierce]

Sounds like a great day Tyoy. Keep it up, no one can ever take away great memories like these.

[Troy Hamon]

Thanks guys. JohnW, no worries. I'm fully aware of how much I don't know, we have a lot of pilots around here, and they've all seen an awful lot, much of which I hope to avoid seeing myself. Curt, I didn't know what to expect from my wife, as she can have issues with motion sickness, but yesterday was all thumbs up. Even a bit of bumps when we were near the hills was absolutely no issue. So it is looking good on that front. I just hope we can make the flying experience fun and educational for all the family members so nobody will want to avoid the airplane.

[wildman]

Way to go Troy! It sounds like you have some wonderful places to fly, down here in southern California we are always watching the air space (we don't have many moose)

[Cathy Pierce]

Troy,

If your wife has problems or might have problems with motion sickness, you might want to consider a Relief Band. It's pricey but works great, as I had to use one when I first started my pilots training. Here is one link, but you might find a cheaper price by doing a search.

http://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilots...FekD5QodKU1ecQ

[Troy Hamon]

wildman, you are right that our airspace issues are relatively few out my way. Anchorage is a bit more hectic, but ATC is really helpful, they're used to a huge volume of GA traffic. So my one trip through there with an instructor was pretty smooth. Sometime soon I'll head in again...

Cathy, thanks for the tip. My wife told me after the flight that she's already bought something that sounds like the bands you link to, though I don't know for sure which ones. It was pretty cool to have her in the air for 1.7 hrs with no problems, and she didn't remember to take the bands. Hopefully that bodes well for the whole thing.