My experience with passengers is quite different. I have probably flown +250 non-pilots in 20 years, and there has been 1 (!) who was scared, but he had told me before and we just wanted to give it a try.
Many times parents allowed their kids to come along, even without them (which i would never allow …) and although it’s hard to find a passenger for a long flight, i have managed a couple of times (to Sweden, Spain, Crete).
But i still do most flights alone – which i enjoy. Flying alone my performance/concentration is the best and i don’t have to explain anything if i have to fly a detour or if there’s a weather related delay.
And while i do like to socialize or introduce other people to flying – the flying itself i enjoy the most when I’m alone.
@ Esteban: Sure, why not? I’m occasionally flying to Slovakia and can stop over at a field near you the next time.
esteban wrote:
Reading this forum also does not inspire enthusiasm (too much real info without rosy glasses)
Which – the real info part! – is one of the really great things of this forum and something that sets it apart from most (if not all) other GA fora! Kudos again to Peter!
Other than that – largely same experience, but with more interest shown here in the US than in Europe. No idea why that should be, perhaps because GA is much more part of the ‘scenery’ here than in Europe. Also, the GA facilities are lightyears better than in Europe – I mean, at how many GA airports in Europe can you land, and while you are shutting down, the lineman drives the rental car up to your airplane, helps you load the bags and off you go? Pretty standard here.
Guess we’ll have to accept that ours is a minority interest. And, I ask, so what?
Still, the dream is to do lazy 8s around fair weather cumuli, hopping for a weekend trip to Bulgaria/Croatia/Greek sea
I wonder how many people going to our September fly-in might have spare seats?
I am currently booked… On the two fly-ins last year I had two passengers who got airline flights to Gatwick. Obviously there is a risk with that (weather) but if the passengers accept that…?
For the cost of an airline ticket, which can be very low, you can get a nice trip.
Heh, I am on the other side of the fence. I would love to try out flying, but it is way over what I can afford. Maybe paragliding…
Reading this forum also does not inspire enthusiasm (too much real info without rosy glasses). Being not very technical type, reading about the repair shop practices … its bad enough with cars where your life is not on the line, just your wallet (and with less 0s at the end). Regulation is another issue…
Still, the dream is to do lazy 8s around fair weather cumuli, hopping for a weekend trip to Bulgaria/Croatia/Greek sea, or for some quick mountaineering to highest Alps without full day (or more) drive…
Maybe I should stalk blueline for a ride, he is barely 100km from my place (Bratislava). :-)
Actually, I did one tryout on a Challenger Ultralight many years ago in Canada. Winter flying (still a bit bumpy), low over frozen lake, on skis. Fun stuff (after I got over the initial nausea), alhough not very practical for transportation.
Noise is annoying, oil does not help either. I wish there was a practical electric aircraft. Still would not refuse a ride in old clunker… although the pilot better be good/safe. :-)
lenthamen wrote:
one collegue asked whether he could borrow my theory books so he had something to read during his holiday
way to go ! 
as for the “safety pilot”, I felt once that I needed one when I was new in the area and the weather as a bit hazy and I did not feel confident to find all the right VRPs
I simply arrived at the club, saw a pilot arriving back from a flight, asked him if he agreed to come with free of charge just to help me navigate safely because I did not know the area so well, and off we went.
Most of my collegues are tech-minded and some of them expressed interest to join for a flight.
So I organized Summer Evening flights with them.
I booked the aircraft in advance and my collegues could enroll. This worked out really well and there was more demand than flights, so I will do another round in September.
The destination is as important as the flight!
We went to the island Texel EHTX, which is about 30 minutes flight time.
I arranged the courtesy car so we could drive to the beach and have dinner there.
I also arranged permission to depart after airport closing time.
It was great fun and one collegue asked whether he could borrow my theory books so he had something to read during his holiday
If we need to go somewhere my wife will come, in the back and only in something with 2 engines and kerosene fuelled. She doesn’t like flying for it’s own sake, she enjoys the destination. Having said that she loves to see a Spitfire, Eurofighter/Typhoon or the mighty Vulcan!
She has been with me in an SEP, but isn’t really interested and I don’t want to push it. As a contrast, enthusiasm has been shown for a ride in a Tiger Moth with me, and that will happen some time soon.
Peter wrote:
Then your “market” is reduced by 50% because if you are say a guy and married or in a relationship, you can’t keep flying with a woman without eventually p1ssing off yours. More than 50% actually, because there are statistically more women who have free time during the day…
So true and I have faced this !
In general I have found friends who have gone before up with other pilots flying rental dirty, stinking, still with 60’s or 70’s equipment, aircraft and do not seem to have had a good time. I for one if I weren’t a pilot and just an aviation fan I would be demotivated by the average flying club aircraft nowadays of 40 year old fleet.
This and their (non) availability for rental and return time when you want to was the prime reason for purchasing a TB20 with another 2 friends in 2004.
Also the average person as stated above does indeed consider light GA, especially single engine, a deathtrap. This you cannot fight. Its their instinct.
boscomantico wrote:
As pilots (and thus passenger haulers) it is also our job to make it is comfortable as possible.
VERY true. I have found that we as pilots have a tendency to disregard this issue because we are so accustomed to “rough” flying tought during our training days and experiences later in flying. Steep turns, bumps from wind turbulence, sudden turns, rough landings, scorching heat at aprons while waiting and the list goes on.
In my early PPL days I got the chance to fly positioning flights (no PAX) with a Seneca belonging to a friend’s Air Taxi company.
I was doing the flying but not logging it (commercial flight) and he was next to me watching closely.
The MOST valuable thing from these flights was things he tought me like NEVER to do nervous turns or pitch changes, never to act trigger happy in the cockpit because the “vibe” is simply transfered to the passengers and in general not to talk a lot ! Look cool. The last was about never to look back towards the cabin, unless needed, for PAX privacy reasons but thats irrelevant to GA. In general he tought me exactly what @boscomantico wrote, to make them feel comfortable and that is a totally different kind flying and attitude inside the aircraft that is never tought in pilot training courses. (correct me if I’m wrong, humble PPL IFR here.)
Back to the subject.
I find it hard to get people to fly along for the reasons Peter wrote. Especially family people are too engaged in obligations and commitments.
Most of my coflyers are pilot friends who are not flying often and simply like to come along for the 100 Euro coffee.
I never ask for money but do inform them (most know anyway) what it costs me.
50% contribute voluntarily since when they ask me I simply answer them “you are not here to pay, you are for the company, but if you wish to, by all means do”.
Hence when I fly just for the flying part, the getaway in the sky, half of my flights will be alone. It does cost but it pays back subjectively when this becomes my “fix” for the bad week which just passed or is coming up.
I have a steady group of 5~6 friends (4 pilots , 2 stopped PPL halfway) who I inform with a message few days before or the night before (the later you inform the more reliable it is actually for a NO to remain NO and a YES to indeed be a YES). Sometimes it works sometimes not. I always do the flight though because this is MY thing and nobody else’s.
Being a married father of two does not help. Peter covered me in most aspects on this front.
When my wife became afraid of flying few years ago on a bumpy ride, that was a matter of bad lack and not bad vertical navigation planning ahead, she simply seized any flying activity with me and hence I have lost my right seater (never was a copilot!) for what was 50% of my flights. For the same reason she is not happy me flying with both son and daughter on board and I simply respect that since when flying I want to have a clear mind. One of the kids will come along but I don’t provoke it; it happens maybe once or twice a year.
So to conclude, I believe we should fly for the cause or the mission or whatever initially drives it and not to rely or being hopeful that we will often have PAX (sharing cost or social companion, or safety copilot) on board. This is a totally unstable and unreliable factor. You know what it will cost you, you take the “worst case” scenario for granted and if for some reason you find a partner its just a bonus, not the norm, not even a average chance. That’s how I see it.
IMHO the image is a huge factor. Peoples’ expectations have risen a lot over the last few decades.
