First Passenger - September 1991

By Paul Pakusch

This was originally written in 1991:

I had just earned my private pilot's license in September, 1991, and it was an awesome feeling to realize that I could now take a passenger flying with me. During the course of learning to fly, a student pilot is not allowed to carry passengers when he or she flies solo. I wanted to do some flying for fun in my two-seat training airplane, a Cessna 152, before checking out in a 4-seat aircraft. Therefore I could take one passenger with me: My first passenger!

Since my wife and I were at 39,000 feet aboard a DC-9 en route from Rochester, New York, to Orlando, Florida for our honeymoon in 1984 when I became bitten by the flying bug, I had long wanted her to be my first passenger. Besides, she was just as affected by the expense of flying lessons as I was, so I figured it was only fair. But since then we had had three young children who would now need a baby-sitter during that flight. No baby-sitter was available.

My wife suggested the alternative that was already on my mind: She would stay home with the two younger girls while I took Kristy, age 5, as my first passenger. "It will be something special," my wife said. "Besides, she loves to fly."

It's true. Kristy was a real pro at being a passenger for her age. She had flown a jet round trip from Rochester to Seattle at three months (she claims she remembers the trip!), a sightseeing ride in a small plane near Lake Placid at age two, a seaplane ride in Inlet, New York and a helicopter ride age three, and another ride in a four-seat Beechcraft Sundowner once on a lesson with my instructor.
Kristy was thrilled when I asked her to go flying with me. I told her we would fly to Darien Lake, an amusement and waterslide park between Rochester and Buffalo that we had been to about a week earlier. I told Kristy we would circle around the park a couple times and that she would see the roller coasters, the waterslides and some of the other big rides.

Kristy had never shown a fear of flying. I suppose that's normal for young children, because to them, sitting in an airplane is not all that different from sitting in a car.

But Kristy did have a fear of loud noises. She knew that jets taxiing near us at the airport and taking off from the runway would be loud. She had kept her hands over her ears during our entire helicopter ride. I did my best to relieve her fears before we got out of the car.

After getting the keys for the rented Cessna 152, I bought her a set of earplugs to wear inside the plane. They were the spongy kind held together by a plastic string. They didn't work too well because they kept falling out of her ears. I told her she could just hold them up to her ears if she wanted to use them.

I took Kristy to the airplane and let her touch the wings. Then I helped her inside and told her I needed to take a few minutes to check the outside of the plane to make sure everything was working OK. I told her the "steering wheel" would move around in front of her when I moved parts of the wing and tail. She was intrigued by that!

When I finished the preflight and climbed into the seat beside her, she already had her hands up to her ears in anticipation of the engine starting! She did this several times as I finished my preflight inside the plane and I promised to warn her just before I started the engine. I also told her the engine would get "loud" during the run-up and during the take-off.

I did as I promised and we taxied to the runway. What a feeling to have my sweet little daughter sitting next to me instead of my flight instructor or the flight examiner!

Kristy kept her ears covered and head hunched down during the run-up. When we were told by the tower to enter the runway and then wait for further clearance, I had the opportunity to tell her, "It's OK to keep your ears covered, but make sure you watch out the window because that's the best part of flying!"

She did, and at the moment we broke ground she became enthralled with the view. After leaving the control area, I took off my headset. She was singing! That meant she was very relaxed and enjoying herself!

OK, I know she had flown several times before, but it had been over a year since she last flew. That's a long time in a five-year-old's life. I guess I was just a nervous dad concerned about how his daughter would react to this situation.

Why, to her it was just like riding in a car except that "The cars look like toys!" she exclaimed. "And I see a swimming pool!"

I was beaming. This is what I had dreamed of for seven years and it had finally come true: Just going for a nice, leisurely cruise in an airplane with my loved ones.

I looked at Kristy watching the view below. What a vision of repose she was! Singing softly to herself, commenting on the view below and totally enjoying the ride. I asked her if the engine noise was bothering her anymore and she told me it wasn't.

Darien Lake Amusement Park was not shown on the aviation map, so I had a compass heading to take us to the town of Darien. I knew the park was just a few miles away from the town.
When we were near the town of Darien, I told Kristy she could help me look for the park. Then I spotted it in our two o'clock position about six miles away.

"There it is!" I told Kristy. "Do you see the Ferris wheel?"

We had to get a mile or two closer before she finally said, "I see it! I see the Ferris wheel! And I see the roller coaster!"

On our visit to Darien Lake a week earlier, I had noticed helicopters for sightseeing rides. My concern now was to watch out for those helicopters if they were still there, so I stayed higher than they would be flying. It was by now past Labor Day and the park was only open on weekends for the rest of the season, so I doubted the helicopters were there. But still, you have to watch out.

My practice in doing circles around a point paid off here as I made two circles around the park so Kristy could get a good look. I was pleased as I maintained my altitude almost perfectly while watching out for traffic.

Kristy had a ball as she called out the park's attractions that she recognized. Then I asked her if she wanted to fly near the lake. She said yes.

I chose a heading that would take us near Rochester when we reached Lake Ontario. That would give us a few miles of flying along the lake shore before I needed to contact the controller again.

It was a very smooth and pleasant ride from Darien Lake to Lake Ontario, a distance of about 30 miles over mostly farm land. By the time we reached the shore, Kristy seemed to be getting bored. She was fidgeting with her earplugs, trying to get them to stay on. I've read that no one makes earplugs that fit children. Maybe it's about time that someone did.

I established communications with Rochester Approach Control and we headed for the airport. Since we were back over suburban and city congestion, Kristy had more to watch on the ground. I was pleased with my landing and pleased overall with the flight. I now felt like a real private pilot and could take passengers!

In the following weeks, I was able to take my wife flying (we found a baby-sitter!) and a few more relatives.