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Have any of you ever taken flying lessons or joined a club as a teenager? An airfield local to me offers a youth-oriented flying club and lessons and I never heard of such a thing before now. When I was 13 a relative of mine bought me a flying lesson which was awesome and now I am thinking I would like to give my kids a similar experience. What are your thoughts/experiences?
I myself was flying before I was driving. They'll be watched extremely closely of course by their instructors. So if you're ok with it, the kids may end up loving it.
I've watched several of my CFII friends teach their youngsters to fly starting when the kids couldn't even reach the rudder pedals. By the time the kids grew a little bit, they had all of the engine management, situational awareness, flight planning (Wt & Bal), chart reading/weather considerations, and fuel management training well understood. By the time they were old enough to get a PP exam, they were very good pilots ... and several have gone on to flying regionals and major airline jobs. Several have simply continued the family interest in GA flying and own planes. Some didn't care for it and have let it go ....
I received my private certificate in high school, had to wait til 17 to get it. Helped in getting into USAF pilot training. These days I don't know how a kid could self-finance as I did, paying for it with summer jobs. It was $20/hr wet for a Cherokee 140 back then.
I was in my early 30s when I first learned to fly but I felt that it made me a better driver of automobiles. It just taught me how focused one really should be - and I was not a terribly distracted driver to begin with. I happened to mention it to a coworker who had a teenage son who was antsy to get his drivers license. Abe decided that he's spring for some flying lessons for his son and he later told me that his son really seemed to get it that operating a plane or a car was serious business, not to be taken lightly.
IIRC his son did want to go on and get at least his private license, but I don't recall if that happened.
Was @ AOPA's Fly-in Last weekend, One of the session was from a flying club,
They have a youth program, for each 10Hrs of "Work" get them one Hours of flying with a CFI (From what I understood, the CFI is billed separately at $1/hr) time.
I myself was flying before I was driving. They'll be watched extremely closely of course by their instructors. So if you're ok with it, the kids may end up loving it.
Same here. Got my pilot's license (or training, the exact legal numbers are lost on me over so many decades) at 16, my driver's license at 17. My instructors were Army Aviators.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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I started flying gliders at 14. Well I guess technically a Schweizer 2-33 should be called a sailplane.
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