Hey I have been looking for good info on flying with kids and most of my searches have turned up the legalities which I fully understand. I figured this group would be as good as any to answer some questions.

I have two young kids. One is 2 years old and the other is 6 months. Obviously parenting is a huge time commitment and I don’t feel right leaving my wife to handle both and running off to go flying. So I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Has anyone flown with toddlers much? My plan was to take her out to the hanger and show her the plane. Then it was to sort of do the baby steps of putting her car seat in the back seat of the plane (172S in this case). Next would be to get her in there and then taxi around a bit. Finally if she’s not freaking out do a pattern or two. My plan is to hopefully ease her into it and not turn her off on the first go. One of my main questions is what to do for ear pro? I have muffs for her that fit. I make her wear them when she rides on my lap mowing the lawn. Are these the best option? I see that they make kids headsets? Has anyone else had any luck with this?

What are your experiences and advice? Am I crazy or blowing this out of proportion? The long term goal is obviously to fly with the whole family. That will be fairly straight forward as long as #2 can be on a lap. Has anyone put two car seats in the back of a 172?

Tons of questions and I am sure I’m overlooking something. Looking forward to your tips.

I've flown our two daughters their whole lives, starting at about 6 weeks. At that age, it was child size earplugs with a head wrapped in co-band to keep them in. As they got older, we went to Peltor Kid's Shooting Earmuffs, then Kid's Headsets. By the time they could talk they were in headsets. At 6 and 10, they now wear Zulus. They bluetooth to Ipads, and watch movies. The silence is golden. Most of the time my wife and I turn the audio panel to crew and chat, and wait for a tap on the shoulder if they need anything.

Your wife is going to need to sit in the back with the infant for a while. Babies need attention. That also means you are now sitting next to a toddler, who may or may not grab the yoke, push on the yoke with feet, etc. Slide the copilot seat all the way back. Expect your wife to get stressed out about travelling like that. You obviously can't pull over to change a diaper or breastfeed. Make the trips worth it enough to get buy in from her.

We used Chico Keyfit carseats when they were young. The 6 year old is still in a 5 point car seat, tethered to the cargo floor. The 10 year old gets a booster seat base and a seatbelt.

The biggest problem flying with a 172 and two really young kids was how much stuff we had to bring to go anywhere. Pack-N-Plays, bags upons bags of diapers and whatever. We travelled as a family, but it had to be worth it to my wife. Usually it was, with stops at National Parks, the San Juans, the beach, the in-laws, etc. Stress the time savings to do things you wouldn't drive to do.

As far as easing into it, I would just go. My kids were (and sometimes are) the most scared in the pattern. They see the ground a lot in turns, everything is close and big. They are much more comfortable at cruise. I try really hard to only fly my family in the morning, and climb until it is cool. The goal is that every trip is a success, with no bad memories. I also try to plan trips with an upside that makes the kids want to go. It could be as simple as the promise of ice cream. Every time we fly, they get an experience that is a little more fun than usual.

I would also choose trips that don't have much risk in the beginning. Good weather, easy runways, pleasant destinations. You've got your whole family in the plane, and your wife is trusting you to make good decisions. On our first departure as a family from Red's Horse Ranch, I didn't tell my wife the runway had a dogleg, and that I was going to turn 20 degrees at 30 MPH, and take off and accelerate in ground effect before climbing out with a low deck angle so I could keep my eyes on terrain. I looked over about a minute after liftoff and she was crying. I didn't realize that it would be scary for her. All she saw was me swerving and trees getting big in a way that suggested we weren't climbing. If I had told her up front she would have been fine with it. We've been to other similar strips, but Red's has a bad taste in her mouth.

Kids also puke, and rarely give warning. Keeping the cabin cold helps a lot. Bring a couple of throw blankets for the cold, and let them puke on those. Staying out of the bumps (fly in the morning) helps. Keeping our legs under two hours seems key. Feed them something you can stand to smell. My kid puking Skittles made me want Skittles. My kid puking Cool Ranch Doritos down my back made it hard to keep from adding to the mess...

Awesome feedback. The co-band is a great add. I was wondering the best way of keeping the ear pro on. Have you flowing with only one of your children before? Do you recommend them in the back or front in this instance? I was thinking back for all of the reasons you listed but then I was worried about stuff like fixing muffs that were chucked by the toddler.

Not being able to bring crap is somewhat alleviated by the grandparents. For the most part they have the pack and plays or an extra car seat. One set lives in the Bay Area and the other up on Whidbey Island. Skipping a drive to either would be amazing. Went to Whidbey for Father’s Day and it was 6.5 hours by car (it’s 1.5 in the 172).

I have also flown with my kids since they were 6 weeks old. 3 girls now. They all love flying. The older 2, 6 and 3, love it when they get to go for a ride by themselves. They wore baby banz head sets from babies until about 2, then moved them to the kids headsets. They like to talk, so the isolate comes in handy at times. We do car seats for the 2 younger ones and the 6 year old is in a booster. Will have another to haul around come October, so putting all the seats in the 206 to work.
I agree about not easing into it. Just go. My girls have never puked, or even shown that they are close to it. They just plain love flying and handle it very well.

jcadwell wrote: Feed them something you can stand to smell. My kid puking Skittles made me want Skittles. My kid puking Cool Ranch Doritos down my back made it hard to keep from adding to the mess...

Lots of good advice in this post, but this specific part made me laugh out loud today. Thanks for that!

I fly the kids without mom occasionally. They usually sit in the back, mostly because their car seats are installed. They can't see over the dash and they aren't interested in the act of flying, so the front isn't interesting for them. I started flying with them alone at about age 4. By then they could understand what was happening, wear a headset without taking it off, and be bribed to keep quiet when needed. Younger than that and things can melt down quickly. It wasn't fun for either of us if it happened.

That is sort of what I figured. My MIL wants to go flying so that might be a good test with the 2 year old. The toddler in front seems to have a bunch of pit falls. My plan was to put the carseat in the back forward facing. I believe she would be able to see out the side windows somewhat. The main reason would be restraint enroute. The 172 that I fly has the car style seatbelts in front that pull from the center out. I think the lap belts in the back would be much better for restraining the carseat.

A1Skinner- We have plans to grow the family further as well so a 206 may be in our future.

Josef wrote:ASA- We have plans to grow the family further as well so a 206 may be in our future.

I hope ASA doesn't see this, I'd hate if he quit visiting me because he thinks people are confusing us. I'm much better looking! Haha!

Sounds like you have a good plan Josef.

Haha Whoops. Ill go back and edit it.

We've got a 205 now, and it's perfect for 4 of us. Enough useful load and volume to bring whatever, and enough power and speed to make it easy. We sold the 172 when the kids were about 3 and 7, as we were maxing out the volume and close to gross in our 180HP 172.

I took both m boys up by the time they were 3 months! Not gonna lie, the first time I took my oldest, I had a whole new repsect for what I was doing. Fast forward 12 years, I have to buddies that enjoy flying and building, and love airplanes!

I agree with just going for it. You can nub on how you are going to do it, but until you're in the air with your kids for the first time, you really don't know what you've gotten yourself in for. I started flying my kids at 10 wks and they are now 10 and 8. Went through a phase with my oldest where he didn't like any real angles of bank and didn't want to go flying. At first I wanted to fight that with him but restrained myself and went with it. He didn't fly with me for about a year. Three years ago, he asked to go around the pattern. From there it became quick runs for ice cream, tent camping at a local grass strip and now we make trips together. Be patient with them.

I swap them out in the front seat every other leg. Now it's hard to get them to let their Mom sit in the front seat. I've been in the process of upgrading my panel and the first thing I did was put in a GMA 345. For flying with kids who are playing with switches or tablets in the back its great! I could never seem to impress upon them how busy I was trying to talk with ATC, Tower and land the aircraft while they were calling out landmarks and generally sightseeing. Now I just isolate them and they are none the wiser. I'd say that is an essential piece of gear when flying with young kids. Big stress reliever!

They are big enough that I've got them in Lightspeed Sierra's as well. Makes everyone happy. Even though they can't reach the pedals, both have become really good at holding altitude and heading and finding themselves on Foreflight. I love the days I can take them flying.

Greg

Our kids have flown since infancy. No other choice if we want to leave home. Give the little ones something to suck on, cut down some earplugs so they fit. Strap their little butts in a car seat and hit the trail. They are asleep before cruise.

Our kids are now at the point that they want to go to the airport more than I do sometimes! As a few other guys above have said, they didn't get a choice.

A few pro tips:

1.) Don't fly with them for a while with only you onboard. I am now at a point with my 3 years old where she and I can run around in the airplane and she knows that when dad puts his index finger up that means to be quiet, and if she is up front, hands and feet away from the flight controls. Little kids are constantly in need of something and you really need another adult on board to either handle the kids, or fly the airplane while you handle them. Don't take your hands off the controls to wrangle a juice box, toy, book, etc that they may want. You are the pilot in command. Stay that way! If your wife can't go with you, but you want to fly with the kids, take a local airport bum whom you can either ask to handle the kids while you fly, or you can ask them to take the controls while you deal with the kids.

2.) Make it fun. I'm not talking about zero G push overs, wing overs, etc. Just teach them that the airplane and hangar are cool places to be. When we shut down and I let my kids out of the airplane, they immediately run to the cabinet I keep the rags in and want to clean dead bugs off of the airplane! We have a small fridge that I keep some cold waters and juice in where they can reach and they love it. I also keep a tricycle out there for them to fool with while I preflight or do my post flight wipe down and inspection once the dead bug wiping fun has subsided for them.

3.) Take them on cool short hops at first. There are several fly out breakfast spots within an hour of where we live. I try to take my kids at least once a month on a pancake run. They associate breakfast food with the airplane and the smell of avgas exhaust now. Be careful flying back with full tummies if it's hot and rough. Don't ask how I know!

All the rest, use common sense. If it hurts your ears, it will hurt theirs. If your hot an nausceus, they are about to puke.... on and on!

Good on you for bringing more little people to the airport!

A few pictures of my 3 year old and I out looking for the old airmail route beacon arrow on Sunday.

I call it Friday Fly-day as I get Fridays off and my wife doesn't. My little guy fusses about the headset at first but has gotten comfortable with it. I only have the front seat so it is just me an him. I have decided that should he get upset I need to concentrate on flying, a child's crying is very distracting but the priority is to fly the plane first and retrieve the dropped toy second.

I don't think young kids really understand what's going on but getting kids involved in anything you do is a big learning opportunity.

This is awesome! Thanks a ton for the responses. Something that recently crossed my mind is that my 2 year old is about to start potty training so I am hoping to get her up prior while I still have the option of a diaper.

Well we went flying today. Nothing in the backcountry just pavement to pavement. Took everyone’s advice of just going. My dad came along and sat in the back with my 2 year old. She really seemed to enjoy it all the way up until about 10 minutes after take off when she fell asleep. It screwed up her nap schedule but who cares? She won’t stop talking about flying with da da.

Great job! Glad it went well. I haven't had my girls up for a couple weeks and they are begging for a flight.

Congrats on a first successful flight! Glad to hear it went well. Our first child would always fall asleep soon after takeoff, our second one doesn't normally sleep unless its a longer flight. The first I think was 6 or 9 weeks old and the 2nd was a few months old on their first flights.

You've gotten a lot of great advice so far. A couple other things that we've found helpful are the Ems for bubs/kids ear muffs. They seem to fit pretty well. Both kids have been pretty good about keeping them on. I think it helps that we are wearing headsets and they have quite a bit of time riding the tractor wearing them. And for the potty concern, we take a smaller bucket and put the gel disposable toilet bags you can get for camping in it. It takes a little work for mom to get them on the bucket but its better than nothing when they are yelling potty at 8000'.

Keep the climbs/descents below 500'/min, plan ahead and try to come down slow. Also Stay VFR if possible. A couple of our longer trips involved a little bit of time in the clouds and someone always ended up with a bit of motion sickness.

No matter what, FLY THE PLANE! Our first family IFR flight included a sick wife and 2 year old crying potty in the back, it can get pretty distracting but theres really not much you can do other than divert and get on the ground. IFR training definitely didn't prepare me for that one! My wife has been a trooper and I'm quick to admit that her duties are tougher than flying. Generally its all fun and games but not always. Our oldest one is 6 now and she gets a little motion sick so we give her kids Dramamine before we go and I'm doing short ice cream run/ fun flights to keep her interested.

And an audio panel that isolates the back is definitely on the top of the to-do list. I think its even above an autopilot

Fly safe and enjoy! You'll make a lot of great memories along the way.

https://earmuffsforkids.com/ems-for-kids-baby-earmuffs/

FYI, kids are not terribly good copilots