I've gotta agree - I generally don't take non-pilot passengers on longer trips, and when I do, I never bring more than 1-2 passengers on board.
In particular I'd never fly a large group of family members at the same time.
I just don't find it 1) worth the unnecessary risk (and GA flying does carry inherent risks, like it or not), nor 2) fun for the passengers.
Something I've been wondering about...
There's been a lot of talk about the accident rate of Cirrus aircraft, incl. the recent Avweb article.
What strikes me when reading articles on COPA, is how routinely the owners seem to fly their entire family around in their aircraft, almost treating it like an SUV.
I wonder if this mindset is somehow correlated with the documented accident rate, considering how safe the aircraft itself is actually built.
Last edited by Hodja; 29th Feb 2012 at 03:32.