As Peter likes to point out, risk compensation is very relevant in GA. As a low-hours, low-currency PPL I only fly local A to A flights with the occasional 50 nm flight to another airfield. I live in an area where the terrain is very forgiving and it is almost impossible to have a CFIT except deliberately.
So far I have not flown with anyone else (FIs excluded) but my best friend. I’d love to fly with my family but my wife is afraid of doing so.
Like @loco pointed out, she also doesn’t want me to take her or the kids separately, which makes it even harder to get flying time.
This creates a vicious circle as I don’t have much free time on my own, so the only way to gain currency would be to fly with my family, which I can’t because I lack the currency to do so in a relaxed atmosphere…
MedEwok wrote:
This creates a vicious circle as I don’t have much free time on my own, so the only way to gain currency would be to fly with my family, which I can’t because I lack the currency to do so in a relaxed atmosphere…
We have all faced this and there is no easy answer. My wife now refuses to fly with me because of all the GA crashes she has heard and read about over the years.In fairness it was me that showed her!!!
In turn I wish to spend time with my family as they grow up, leaving little time for personal pursuits and flying. Net result aircraft sit, costing you money, rusting away and your skill sets erode. Ultimately you then lose confidence in your ability. It is a serious vicious circle which can have deadly outcomes.
So……..if you can fly on weekdays leaving weekends for family matters.Seek a more experienced buddy pilot and attempt longer and trickier VFR flights. Build you confidence. Take extra ratings, IR, Night, tailwheel, display. This will give you the confidence to the go further and take relatives. Appreciate it can be like wading through treacle, but join a club for fly outs. If that gets too much you can always leave!! 
There are ways but you need to look and plan and build your internal confidence before taking others. It’s all ultimately about compromise but there are ways where it can all come together where all are happy and content in the approach to safe and confident flying.
greg_mp wrote:
About family trips, the first keep is my wife that doesn’t like flying. So trips must be calm and risk (at least visible) must be low to preserve the possibility to fly again. Actually these kinds of flight are long ones, so they are anyway better prepared than a local or a burger one.
I actually agree that longer trips seem less stressful to passengers. More calm time in cruise.
Something which really helps with partners: see if they would like some training. My wife was very nervous about what would happen if I had a problem during a flight, so she started the AOPA Safety Pilot Course. After a couple of lessons, the instructor pointed out to her that she was obviously much more talented than I (he was right!), and she took her PPL and her IMC rating too. Without going that far, the annual PA46 type convention has a one-day course for companions which is very popular.
Snoopy wrote:
Do you fly with your family? With your young kids? Do you observe any special rules or treat it like any other flight? For example: would you fly in certain weather alone without issues but not if your kids/wife/relatives were aboard?
Get your partner involved in understanding constraints of flight and to deal with few logistics otherwise just being in “pilot mode” or “safety god mode” will not do you any help, just throw few diversion/weather scenarios while on ground to manage expectations
Also when having fun don’t underestimate how much family can handle, I forced my partner into few flying profiles (e.g. turbulence, distance, night, oxygen…): when they tell you they feel unwell or this day they just simply don’t like it, you probably have no more than 15min to be on the ground or in their comfort zone, the expectation is you want to fly with them again so they own that optionality and you have to sort the associated mess in “zen mode” 
Takes a lot to build others confidence and little to hurt it when flying GA, so I keep it burger run for some relatives (e.g. grand parents )
I routinely fly with my family. Last year we flew a C172 UK to Italy for a wedding, and later in the summer a Twin Comanche UK to Elba for a holiday. We find it just “works” and is much less stressful than trying to take a scheduled flight!
Flying with the family has always been my main motivation for stepping into GA; we have hundreds of family flights preciously written down in the kids’ logbooks. I constantly think about the risks involved ..
My mitigation strategy:
From time to time the girls get to get driven around to their great-grand-parents (8 hours, Toulouse/Montbéliard). They like flying even more after these trips ..
Maybe one day they’ll fly me around ..
(edited for formatting)
My family are very risk aware, and the SC has only one passenger seat – but my wife will fly on smooth, nearly gin clear days with estimated en route times of up to 30-45 minutes. Landing in farm strips doesn’t phase her.
Ideally the TEM concept should be translated into a risk assessment tool and be part of PPL training. This risk indicator could be self constructed and would cover currency, aircraft condition, stress, familiarity with route, weather, day/night, crosswinds, etc etc
Unless you naturally maintaining a high degree of currency am not a believer in the theory that better equipment improves safety. Professional pilots typically fly 600 to 800 hours a year. Unless you are flying a complex type more than 100-150 hours a year, and use SOPs, I would suggest a simple fixed gear SEP is a major risk enhancer.
Around 30% of PPL fatalities are low level manoeuvring/stall/spin accidents – the taper wing Archer/Warrior has minimal exposure to this category, so a simple, safe, spin resistant SEP is a major mitigation.
Around 30% plus of fatalities is continued VMC into IMC, and the risk mitigation is IMC(R)/IR and currency. Here the simple SEP is clearly not able to tackle serious IMC, icing and MEAs of FL80 plus. It is fine for light IFR.
The grey area is what type of IMC can be handled by a complex SEP/MEP and what is in effect turbine territory. Again currency and experience are probably major risk factors/mitigations, and would help make that judgment call. Not sure I would want my family to fly in low IFR in a single crew piston aircraft.
The other accident categories are mid airs, landing/take off, engine failures, etc. Most of these are addressed by currency in type, including emergency drills.
One way to self assess is to think you are another pilot who is going to fly your family. On that day, in that aircraft, on that mission, would you let this ‘other’ pilot fly your family?
MMOPA has released a self-assessment tool for free on the Apple App Store (search MMOPA FRAT).
Thank you for posting @denopa :)
Nice discussion about it on a mooniac forum
https://mooneyspace.com/topic/22967-frat-flight-risk-assessment-tool/
