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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to worry about DS going for a flight in a light plane?

176 replies

crackofdoom · 01/10/2020 21:39

XP has just texted to say that he has a friend who is a pilot flying down to visit in a light plane in a few days' time, and can he take DS1 (10) up for a flight?

I'm torn. DS would love this. I feel terrified. I'm fairly scared of flying anyway, manage to keep it down when necessary, but to be honest the thought of the DC flying scares me more than the thought of me flying myself! DS was due to fly on a school trip this spring - which was cancelled due to COVID - I was a bit scared for him, but the trip was such an opportunity, and I know that commercial flights are really very safe, so I managed to keep it down.

But this one....? Can anybody talk some sense into me about realistically how safe light amateur flights are?

OP posts:
happymummy12345 · 01/10/2020 23:11

I've been in one, was years ago now and I felt perfectly safe. I loved it

Miljea · 01/10/2020 23:13

@FubsyRambler

Compared to driving, it’s extremely safe.

I'm always up for agreeing that it's safe.

Except the stats are flawed.

Way, way fewer people go up in light aircraft compared to those who drive.

My understanding is that light aircraft flying is considerably more dangerous than driving.

Sorry.

Pimmsypimms · 01/10/2020 23:14

I knew someone who died in one of these and the pilot had years of experience. It would definitely be a no from me.

Miljea · 01/10/2020 23:16

@MushyMushi

I’m a private pilot. My DC (aged 14&15) are currently learning to fly. They also go up regularly with my cousin (commercial and private pilot).

It really isn’t dangerous if the pilot does what they’re meant to do. The only incidents I’ve seen have stemmed from showboating idiots who don’t follow checklists or who are arrogant enough to think they don’t matter. Planes are stringently maintained and completely safe even when they’re 50 years old!

Your average pilot is methodical and calm. There is hardly any traffic in the sky. The chance of anything bad happening is ridiculously slim.

'there's hardly any traffic in the sky'.

But if my car breaks down, at worst, I'm stranded on a roadside for a couple of hours.

If my plane breaks down..

Not comparable. And WHO drives a fifty year old car around, today??

ChodeOfChodeBall · 01/10/2020 23:18

Um... I let my teenagers do an awful lot. But the three things that are an absolute no for me are pot-holing, light aircraft, and diving.

Not a chance on any of those fronts.

They'll all probably now become pot-holers, pilots and scuba-divers, but it won't be with my blessing.

Miljea · 01/10/2020 23:26

Of those, I'd 'okay' diving. That's very different to your other 'no's'.

With PADI diving, they do not dive deeper than a depth from which they couldn't swim up without a risk of the bends.

I wouldn't ban mine from that, while understanding that, at 18, it's their choice.

I've done all three. I felt 'safe' enough, but the pot holing , I wouldn't do again (Porth-yr-ogof, Wales, 15 years old). I've developed some claustrophobia since then. Tiny aircraft flying? Over Botswana, aged 35. God, it was a tin box! Out of Africa!

But were I not fat, unfit, and almost 60, I'd dive again. You're in control when you dive; you make the decisions.

AgeLikeWine · 01/10/2020 23:27

If my plane breaks down..

In all probability, a competent pilot would be able to locate somewhere to land the aircraft safely. Light aircraft have lots of lift and glide very well and very controllably. Their engines are mechanically very simple, very robust, very well maintained and very, very reliable.

ThisIsMeOrIsIt · 01/10/2020 23:28

But if my car breaks down, at worst, I'm stranded on a roadside for a couple of hours.

If my plane breaks down..

If the engine stalls then the plane can be glided down to earth. It's not like the engine suddenly stops and the plane just takes a nosedive.

My dad has had a PPL for years and I went up with him many a time as a teen. He's just bought himself a light aircraft and I'm looking forward to going up again!

backinthebox · 01/10/2020 23:31

I was taken up in a microlight when I was 11 years old. The sensation of flight was amazing. I didn’t set foot on any sort of aircraft for nearly another decade, but it ate at my thoughts and I dreamed that sensation again and again. I’m currently a long haul airline pilot for a major airline. I managed to survive enough hours in light aircraft that I made it to the next step - a passenger jet - with the worst thing that happened to me being a flat tyre. I’ve flown to the beach for an ice cream, down to the Isle of Wight for lunch. It’s fab, and a person competent enough to pass a ppl will have had training in all manner of emergency situations. I’d let him go.

Lockheart · 01/10/2020 23:32

@Miljea if my plane broke down I would simply glide down.

We used to have to do that in training. The instructor would turn the engine off mid-air and I'd have to land it.

If a 15 year-old trainee can do it, I'm fairly sure the qualified adult pilot can do it too.

Planes do not fall out of the sky unless something truly catastrophic goes wrong.

Even the biggest airliners can glide.

backinthebox · 01/10/2020 23:33

I’d giving potholing a miss though! 😱

backinthebox · 01/10/2020 23:35

Even the biggest airliners can glide.

Indeed. One of my colleagues (Lovely man!) managed to glide a Boeing 777 with 2 dead engines to safety, no one badly injured. More people were hurt during the evacuation, and some passengers hadn’t even realised they’d just crashed!

HelloHello89 · 01/10/2020 23:36

I personally wouldn't. It may be safer but if a car crashes you have more chance of asurvival!

JumpingJamboree · 01/10/2020 23:40

I have and will when my daughter is old enough to go up in my Dad's plane. The checks and maintenance the planes have to go through is very thorough as well as the regular pilot training means it is very safe.

I think it would be a such a shame to deny your child this opportunity just because of your own fears. However, I completely understand the feeling of wanting to keep your child safe so ultimately the choice is up to you. I think maybe I am more relaxed about the idea as my child would be going up with a close family member rather than just some random pilot.

AgeLikeWine · 01/10/2020 23:44

Even the biggest airliners can glide.

Yep.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

JumpingJamboree · 01/10/2020 23:44

@ChodeOfChodeBall I have a friend who started off just doing a bit of diving for fun. He loved it so much he is now an underwater bomb disposal expert in the navy. Not quite sure how his parents stay so calm about that one!!

MsEllany · 01/10/2020 23:49

I went up in one when I was about 10 near Skeggy Butlins. I would allow mine to do it.

keeprocking · 01/10/2020 23:50

At some point you have to start to release the apron strings or your son will come to resent you. At what age would you consider letting him do something adventurous, albeit with an element of risk? It's one of the hardest parts of being a parent.

seayork2020 · 01/10/2020 23:51

I dont ask the history of commercial pilots that fly me, nor doctors that operate on me, or taxi bus train drivers

Keha · 01/10/2020 23:57

I'd let him, it's a great experience. I have been up in one a few times. You can look up the statistics for fatalities in light aircraft etc, but overall it is very safe. I think stopping him going would be letting your anxieties about it prevent him from doing something that he might really enjoy and learn from. Everything in life has risks.

Linning · 02/10/2020 01:45

Before I would have said you are overreacting but one of my good friends crashed in the middle of forest in one of those planes a couple of months ago, miraculously none of the people on board died (even the dog survived!) but the 15yo on board had some damage to her spine and my friend looked like she had been on a blender and survived.

I have been on a small/light plane myself with no issue but it’s put me off going again personally.

Elsewyre · 02/10/2020 04:20

@IcyApril

I have no idea about light aircrafts if I’m honest so thought I’d ask my DH. He says to let our son on one he would want more information - who is the pilot? His flight history? Plane maintence record?

He has a list of commercial airlines the children wouldn’t be allowed on. He’s very into aircraft.

He sounds like a hypochondriac.

"He has a list of commercial airlines the children wouldn’t be allowed on. He’s very into aircraft."

Lufthansa? Grin

PerveenMistry · 02/10/2020 04:27

Nope. Not a chance would I allow a child in a light plane.

thisusernameismine · 02/10/2020 07:09

@IcyApril please name the commercial airlines? PM me if you prefer. Thanks :)

notimagain · 02/10/2020 07:30

I agree with many of the above saying let the trip go ahead but sadly it has to be said that, objectively, worldwide, "General Aviation" (which includes light aircraft flying) doesn't fare as well as commercial aviation when it comes to safety, for a whole host of reasons ..however I wouldn't be worried about the DS in question taking a trip around the local area on a good weather day with someone known not to be a "show off" as the pilot.

I'm another one here who has managed to survive aviation - first flew a glider at 17, first soloed in a powered light aircraft as a teenager and went onto fly for a living for 4 decades..If was inclined to worry about my own children I'd be much more worried about things like motorbikes and cars on a Saturday night than a flight as a passenger in a light aircraft.