The line folks at Moyer Aviation were happy to pull the airplane out for a drive-about. No preflight because, well, I wasn't going flying. No weather briefing either. Just get in , start up, taxi around on the grass for a bit, and call it a day.
A hot day; we left the windows open and the headsets back in the car. Loud and windy, my wife in the right seat and grandkids in the back. They loved it. My granddaughter, seven, kept saying "Make it go up, Pop!" "Sorry, I can't today." No briefing and no preflight were sufficient reasons to keep the everyone on the ground, but the best reason was not having mom and dad's permission for the kids to fly.
My wife got a call from mom while we were having our taxi. "Guess where we are?" "Where?" "In the plane." "With the kids !?!?" Mom tells dad: "Guess where they are?" "Where?" "In the plane." "With the kids !?!?"
After an explanation of the intro taxi concept, mom and dad are a bit more comfortable with things. The whole trip took maybe 15 minutes.
For the next six weeks, my granddaughter bugged her mom, her grandmother, and me: "When are we going flying with Pop?" I was the only one amused by her enthusiasm.
And my three year old grandson now will wander through the house, arms outstretched, making airplane noises. People were more amused with this, but they still look askance at me, asking, "what have you done, Pop?"
Student pilots dream of taking friends and relatives into the air after passing the checkride, and they're advise to to keep it short, to leave them wanting more.
I guess I left them wanting more.
And one happy side-effect (for me, anyway): I didn't have to talk mom and dad into letting my granddaughter fly with me. She did that, and much better than I could have. Never underestimate the persuasive powers of a seven year old.
