Kids flying airplanes

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: Kids flying airplanes
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John H. Nichols on Friday, October 03, 2014 - 05:21 pm:

I have been looking for the thread in which one of the members has stated he was teaching his children. I would like to make contact him as I have a small token for his actions. While many
think it is wrong, I ask how many times in your lifetime have you heard of a child landing an air plane when Grandpa got sick, had heart attack or
something else.

John


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Coiro on Friday, October 03, 2014 - 06:10 pm:

Back when I was taking flying lessons, the flight school was promoting a "Pinch-Hitter" course for spouses and other family members. -In case the pilot-in-command were to become "incapacitated" (a nice euphemism chosen by the flight school), the curriculum covered just enough material and flight experience to enable the freshly-minted widow to tune the radio to the emergency frequency and follow transmitted instructions to an airport where she would then land the airplane, thus saving herself and the children.

For someone like myself, whose brain was hard-wired together back in the days when a father/husband could claim, with a straight face, to be the head of the household, witnessing this material being taught from the rear seat of the aircraft was every bit as hilarious as any 1960's sit-com about teaching one's wife to drive a car, only more so because of the added 3rd-dimension (and one hasn't lived until one has ridden through a split-S in a Piper Cherokee).

All kidding aside, the "Pinch-Hitter" course is very, very worthwhile for passengers of almost any age and it has saved lives. -Here's a video of what it looks like from the back seat. -This zero-time, non-pilot lands like a butterfly with sore feet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8GN5s3jF90


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Kriegel Mishawaka Indiana on Friday, October 03, 2014 - 07:23 pm:

I have flown countless SCORES of young kids and teenagers over the last 40 years in my Bi-Planes (like riding a motor cycle in the air) to 172's Many many a Boy Scout etc . You need to get them motivated. Same way I let kids drive my Model T's at the airport and in the quiet neighborhood. i am sure many other Model T members who fly have also flown many many children


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By joe bell on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 06:34 am:

A few years ago I helped an older friend on his 12 touring to get it up and running, in payment I chose for a ride in the j3 cub out in the other barn. After we took off the old boy asked me if I could fly it, then he asked me if I thought I could land it? I said I thought I could since I had some flying experiance already, then I asked him why, He said he was 83 and anything could happen you know. I think any one owning an aircraft should have others know a little knowledge of them just in case. One of my later trips to his place was a ride in the stearman and we put it through the paces. My wife does not like to fly in the small aircraft but she sure liked doing rolls and loops in the stearman!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken McGirr on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 08:59 am:

I know a man who landed a super cub when a teen after his father passed away in the front seat. I was good friends of the ag pilot/instructor that gave instruction by radio to help him land. He had a little experience flying but certainly not ready to solo - especially with that stress. The flight ended without damage to the plane and the nearly new super cub remained a part of the ranch for decades.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John H. Nichols on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 09:25 am:

Now then, I am convinced of my opinion that most
model T er's do have other outside interests, and I still say go to it. It's refreshing to see the posts to this thread. Thank's fellow MTFCA members

John


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Gruber- Spanaway, Wash. on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 09:40 am:

I've been flying 40 years and I've taken a lot of people for their first plane ride.
I've always done my best not to scare the hell out of them because there are enough people bad mouthing little airplanes without me adding more.
Only two riders have said "you couldn't scare me no matter what you do"
WRONG!
Fun stuff...us kids need our toys.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Georgetown TX on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 05:16 pm:

About every other year we have a national news story where a young pilot has crashed and died while performing under age flying. Often the dead kid is accompanied by an instructor pilot who also is killed. I know the parents were proud of that kid for being an over achiever right up until the time they became dead. It is very sad to read and see the results of parents giving too much responsibility to those who are not ready for it.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Georgetown TX on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 05:45 pm:

Here's a really sad one. Four dead:
http://tech.mit.edu/V116/N18/pilot.18w.html


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By A. Gustaf Bryngelson on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 08:49 pm:

Royce, the 7 year old had nothing to do with the crash, I doubt she was even flying it at the time of the crash. It sounds like a fame hungry father and a low quality flight instructor was the problem. No one is allowed to be pilot n command until the have passed the written and the practical test as well as passed the physical exam. She might have been sitting in the left seat, but she was not flying the plane.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gilbert V. I. Fitzhugh on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 10:13 pm:

I have to jump in here. My son soloed a glider on his 14th birthday. On his 16th birthday he got his private pilot's license with a glider rating and soloed a powered airplane. My daughter soloed a glider when she was 15 and got her private pilot's license with a glider rating shortly thereafter. My stepson soloed a glider on his 14th birthday (and stayed up for an hour and twenty minutes, while we all got bored on the ground waiting for him to land so we could cut his shirttail off!) and got his glider rating at 16. Dangerous? Yes, compared with sitting on the ground playing computer games. But my wife and I got these kids the very best instruction we could find, and it included instruction in emergency situations and practicing judgment. Not perfect, of course. Accidents happen. The MTFCA's highest award is in memory of a fine man who tried to drive safely and died in a Model T accident. But the alternative is the nanny state. I'd rather expose kids to risk in the most carefully controlled way I can, and gradually, and let them learn.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By michael grady on Saturday, October 04, 2014 - 11:31 pm:

So...I'm a Certified flight instructor. The pilot in command of an airplane is never the child. It is the instructor - period. It doesn't matter who is sitting in the left seat. A monkey could be there. Qualified Instructors can fly the airplane with equal proficiency in either the left or right seat.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By A. Gustaf Bryngelson on Sunday, October 05, 2014 - 12:09 am:

Well said Michael. People who condemn allowing a child in a airplane will lament the loose of a wealthy and powerful person such as JFK Jr. Anytime some gets into an airplane and fame or power is the most important think they are going to end up dead soon. I know a kid that soloed his father's crop duster when he was 8, with out his father's permission. He got a good scolding, and is still one of the best natural pilots I have ever met 40 years later. Age is of less importance the aptitude and attitude.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John H. Nichols on Sunday, October 05, 2014 - 10:55 am:

Royce, I understand and respect your point of view.

I am heartened by the response to this thread. I do have an ulterior motive for it. I have in my possession a UH-60A Blackhawk key chain. It is my desire to send this small token to a teenager, who has received their license in the past year.

This key chain was given to me by Army Colonel Anthony De Bennedtto, a former Company commander
of mine, when I was selected to be the Senior Instructor for the UH-60A New Equipment Training
Team in 1978. Later, every soldier who attended
the classes, received the same key chain.

So if you know of a teenager who became a licensed pilot in the past year, Male or female
let me know. The primary criteria will be
they also love the model T and date of license.

A BASKET FUL OF THANKS

John


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By justin cox on Monday, October 06, 2014 - 11:43 am:

I totally agree with Michael, and I am also a CFI. The school where I teach hosts a large group of kids from a summer camp every year. We will take each of these kids and put them in the left seat and give them their first hour of flying with them doing the flying for most of the time we are up. There is no more danger than on any other flight. Most of the kids are actually pretty quick to pick it up and all have a blast. The entire time we are flying I am still PIC and I am not going to do anything unsafe so I fail to see why that letting a young person experience one of the greatest thrills in life is unsafe.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stan Howe Helena, Montana on Monday, October 06, 2014 - 12:08 pm:

Almost 40 years ago I taught my girlfriend's daughters to fly -- at least the basics. One girl was not much interested,the other spent 24 years in the Coast Guard as a pilot. They both had dirt bikes a month after I got to know them, they drove everything I had including 4 wheelers, motorcycles, pickups, tractors, trucks, Model T's & Jeeps; by the time they were 16 they were comfortable pulling their horse trailer behind out F-350 crew cab or the motorhome. If I was still flying I would teach my girlfriend's kids the basic of flight. Everything like that they can learn is good for them in the long run.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Kriegel Mishawaka Indiana on Monday, October 06, 2014 - 12:24 pm:

"I'd rather expose kids to risk in the most carefully controlled way I can, and gradually, and let them learn." Gilbert

That is my philosophy _ BUT controlled risk. Teaching many a Navy Pilot to fly, we exposed them to risk at an early stage and encourage them to take risks within parameters. As an example, they are doing solo acrobatics (at least when I taught) after about 17 1.7 hour flights. Do some of them scare themselves ? Yup. I sure did as a student myself. This is a different philosophy than US Air Force training with greatly different pilot proficiency results Same with letting kids drive my Model T's with me ready to grab the wheel and turn off the ignition controlled risk a real happy kid


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