I haven’t yet taken my daughter flying with me and she keeps bugging me about it. My typical response is “when you’re older” which satisfies her for about 5 minutes. I recently thought about it and I’ve come to the conclusion that she is ready go to flying with her daddy. The Memorial Day weekend was a perfect opportunity to fly and the weather could not have been better. However, when I called the airport to schedule the Cessna, I learned that my airplane had been grounded due to a registration error. No flying today! Instead I used this as an opportunity to test my kid and she if she is ready for an airplane ride. The test consisted of the following checklist:
- Check if she is willing and able to wear a pilot headset with boom mic
- See if her car-seat will fit in the airplane
- Check her line of sight while sitting in the car-seat (can she see out the airplane window)
- Evaluate behavior around the airplane
We went to the airport and ran through the checklist. The car-seat fit perfectly and she was able to clearly see out of the airplane. She was obedient, quiet and patient while I strapped her in. She even wore the headset that she refused to wear last time I let her sit in the airplane. Overall I think she’s ready to fly!
