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very aviator in the world, regardless

of status or experience, has at least

one thing in common: at one stage

in their lives they took their very

first flight in an aircraft. At that

point, something changed for them

forever, and the ground was never

so mundane from then on as it had

been before.

But what if that first f light

had been an awful experience for

them? What if they had f lown in a

hot, sticky cockpit on a turbulent

day with a pilot intent on showing

off superior skills that they didn’t

actually have?

The experience of flight would

forever have been coloured a whiter

shade of pale and all their dreams

smashed by one single nightmare.

For those who went on to be

aviators, it didn’t happen that way.

But for many ordinary ground-

bound people who do venture into

a light aeroplane for the first time,

their memories can be just like that;

wonder turns to woe and they are

lost to flying forever.

And who is to blame for such a

poor showing? Sorry, it’s the pilot.

Too many of us aviators are eager

to show newbies how wonderful

flight is and how much fun we have

in air that we forget our passenger

might just be shaking in their boots

at the thought of the wheels no

longer being on the ground.

For the pilot it could amount

to just more hours in the

logbook, but to the passenger

it is a total experience by which

they are going to judge general

aviation for years to come.

Therefore, the pilot has a duty

to make the experience one that

will burst out of the person in

the form of enthusiasm every

time the subject comes up.

First Flight STEVE HITCHEN

Editor Steve Hitchen presents 12

hot tips for making someone’s first

flight in a GA aeroplane a positive

experience they will remember for

many years to come.

68

AUSTRALIAN FLYING March – April 2015

the

Flight

First Time