I have been flying for ten years this October. I decided to get my license when my two children were grown and in college. My hubby, Kevin, would ride in the backseat with my instructor and me when I was working on my private. He soon started taking lessons also. Kevin got his 5 months
after me. We both went on to get our instrument rating a few years later. I’m currently working on my commercial rating and plan on getting my CFI afterwards. In 2012, we bought a 1964 Cessna 182 that we lovingly call Sierra.
I became a Memaw when my son married and we inherited a 3 year old granddaughter, Ellie, who is now 10. Ellie now has a sister, Kit, who just turned 4. Ellie is one of those children that will get in the plane if we are heading to the beach or the mountains, but hasn’t shown any desire to touch the controls. Kit, on the other hand, wanted to fly as soon as she could say airplane. We took her up for her first flight when she was two. She has been flying ever since. She lets people know that she is my co-pilot, but she will let them sit in front.
A few months ago, the movement factor came into play in the cockpit. As a parent/grandparent, I knew about the movement factor, but I didn’t transfer the knowledge of it from the car to the airplane. What is the movement factor? The movement factor is how movement causes little
people and some adults to fall asleep really fast whether it is in a car or an airplane. I was flying Sierra over to a local airport for the 24 month transponder/pitot static check. The actual flight was ten minutes from take-off to landing. Kevin was driving over to pick me up. Kit was hanging out with us and wanted to fly instead of ride. I can totally relate to that. I put her booster seat in the co-pilot’s seat and off we went. We were racing Papa and we were going to win! Once at altitude Kit usually “flies” the plane but this day when we climbed to 2,500 feet it was really bumpy. She held onto the yoke for about a minute but I told her that I will fly because she was being jostled around. She said okay and within a minute her chin was on her chest and she was sleeping. My first thought was what if she falls forward during landing and hits the yoke? I tried to wake her up, but that wasn’t happening! By this time, I was over the airport and was entering the traffic pattern. I thought about trying to move her seat back, but I didn’t know if I could during flight. I told myself just fly the plane and I will deal with the sleeping kid if I had to. The landing was fine and to my surprise she didn’t move much at all. Once I got off of the runway, I reached down to see how hard it would have been to move the seat back and it would have been quite easy.
Now when this happens, I just move the seat back and let her nap. My recommendation, before taking off with a little one up front with you, would be to try sliding the seat back with them in it. There are numerous reasons to move a little one’s seat back, falling asleep is just one. I heard a story about a little one finding it funny to pull that little red knob out when dad wasn’t looking. He did this twice before dad moved his seat back. I guess watching dad panic the first time the engine quit was funny??
Pilot Qualifications: Private Pilot, Instrument
Goals: Commercial Rating, CFI Rating