Hey guys, I'm taking my 8 month old baby on his first flight. It will be about a 2 1/2 hour xcountry. Do you guys have any advice or tips? Also, what hearing protection would you recommend? Thanks!

Hey Tx. I've been flying around with my 7 month old daughter. I have a small set of ear muffs that I got from a baby store. I strap the car seat in the rear seat and put her muffs on. Shortly after takeoff she is usually sleeping.

This was our first flight and she really seemed to enjoy it. We haven't looked back since!
David

The elevation change can be hard on their ears. As they get older and fussier elevation is like dimetapp. Uh, Center can we get higher--passenger request.

I used the shooter muffs on our kids, they seemed to like them.

Having mom nearby with baby's food vector of choice and good ear protection will ensure a happy baby.

Thanks guys, good advice. I'll have to get some of those earmuffs and make sure the wifey has got some food ready for him... I'm excited to take my little buddy up in the air

All good advice. I like to put the car seats in forward facing. It's almost impossible for moms to turn around and assist kids if they are aft facing. My biggest issue is egress. I know they are safer aft facing at that age but I find them extremely difficult to get out of they are aft facing. In the event of an event I want to be able to get those kids asap. Some car seats have the removable base but they never worked out in the plane for me. Those seats sure are easier to pop out In a hurry.
The biggest issue for me is getting distracted. They will either be asleep the whole way or scream for two hours straight. Moma is having a bad time and doing everything to appease screamer and it can be easy to get sucked in and loose your pilot mind.

PAMR MX wrote:All good advice. I like to put the car seats in forward facing. It's almost impossible for moms to turn around and assist kids if they are aft facing. My biggest issue is egress. I know they are safer aft facing at that age but I find them extremely difficult to get out of they are aft facing. In the event of an event I want to be able to get those kids asap. Some car seats have the removable base but they never worked out in the plane for me. Those seats sure are easier to pop out In a hurry.
The biggest issue for me is getting distracted. They will either be asleep the whole way or scream for two hours straight. Moma is having a bad time and doing everything to appease screamer and it can be easy to get sucked in and loose your pilot mind.

Thanks, I'm sure that's easier said than done By the way, you and Skinner have some cute kids!

PAMR MX wrote:The biggest issue for me is getting distracted. They will either be asleep the whole way or scream for two hours straight. Moma is having a bad time and doing everything to appease screamer and it can be easy to get sucked in and loose your pilot mind.

This is so true. It's nice to be able to switch the radios from "all" to "crew" or "PIC" in order to eliminate some noise /distractions and still be able to communicate on the radio ect.

CW

Yup, I came to love the "Pilot Isolate" button on my intercom when the kids were little.

I would sometimes think back on my Instrument instructor and examiner trying to load me up with distractions by "whoops I dropped my pen on the floor," failing instruments or making me count backwards by threes from 78 or something. None of those things compare to the distraction of a screaming baby, believe me!

8 months! What took you so long!?!? Like others have said, good ear muffs (there have been a couple of threads on this you can search for). Also bottle or pacifier to suck on to help equalize their ears if needed. We did forward facing too for the same reasons and x2 on the isolate switch! Screaming kids can be a huge distraction!

We used the Banz ear protection for my son when he was that age. Now that he's 2, we'll move up to a bigger earmuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Banz-earBanZ ... protection

I like these because they don't pinch as hard as some of the bigger muffs. On the long legs, it matters.

Our daughter Aubrey has also been using the Banz ear muffs in the 170 since she was 3 days old. Lately I've also been putting ear plugs in her ears for added hearing protection. I take a regular foam earplug and cut it length wise so they will fit in her little ears.

Does anyone know of a noise cancelling earmuff or headphone which is sized to suit infants?

Sorry, this thread is making me nostalgic. Here's our littlest guy some 7 years ago all nice and content. He's been flying since he was in the womb.

Oregon180 wrote:Sorry, this thread is making me nostalgic.

Ok, me too. It's great being able to share our love of flight with our kids isn't it? Here's Aubrey's first flight at 3 days old.

A year and a half later and she's an old pro.

Rob, that is still the best picture ever.

Rob and Oregon180 - great photos - you guys had pretty cute babies!

Grassstrippilot wrote:8 months! What took you so long!?!? Like others have said, good ear muffs (there have been a couple of threads on this you can search for). Also bottle or pacifier to suck on to help equalize their ears if needed. We did forward facing too for the same reasons and x2 on the isolate switch! Screaming kids can be a huge distraction!

Lol, I'm honestly not sure why it's taken so long. We've got a trip planned to the beach and thought it would be the perfect time to take my little man with us .... Great looking kids everyone! I'll have to look into the ear protection you guys mentioned, and use the pilot isolate button.

Not to be left out, here's what we have used. In another thread on here I posted some instructions I found on AOPA to make the bonnet type Sadie is wearing in the first pic. As your kid gets older, he'll want to pull whatever you put on him off. The bonnet prevented that. As the kids got older we used some muffs as well as an older headset I had. Eventually we picked up the Softcom child headset. It comes with its own audio in for DVD players or iPad (music, movies, games, etc) and only cost around $100. Those will work for them for years to come. We've been very happy with them. If you can't find the thread and want the instructions I'll dig them up for you. Pretty fun looking back on pics from our past trips to find these!

Great pics everyone! And great tip on the forward facing seat. I'll be putting mine in that way from now on. Thanks!