Noisey and distracting pax!

[Dude~]

Having done a few hours flying this weekend I am left thinking about some of my passengers. Once or twice I had a full C172 with excited and boisterous pax and I found these flights to be very draining.

Anyone got any good ways of calming them down without spoiling the fun of the flight?!

[PA38]

When at a safe altitude cut the power...That gets people's attention :D

[18greens]

Turn off the intercom.

Don't give them headsets.

Take them up one at a time.

Give them a task such as looking for other aircraft

Make them fly, this generally shuts them up while they concentrate very hard.

I agree passenger management adds to the workload especially if you want them to have a good time. It never gets a mention in training.

Generally my problem is to stop them being sick.

[Whirlybird]

Give them a very thorough briefing beforehand. Tell them in detail about safety aspects, what to do in the event of engine failure etc. Tell them about not talking a lot to distract you, and tell them not to talk at all during takeoff and landing, or if you're talking on the radio. Ask them to look out for other aircraft, and tell you if they see any, using the 24 hour clock; they'll tell you about aircraft 3000 ft above you, but who cares. Make it clear from your attitude that flying is a serious business, and they'll still enjoy it (probably more so) but be a lot calmer. And if necessary, just tell them to be quiet!

But the longer I fly the more careful I am who I take up with me. I won't take everyone's auntie and grandpa and kid brother any more. And since the time one of my pax froze on the controls, I'm even more careful about who I let have a go at flying.

[pondlife]

As an instructor, I regularly give trial flying lessons to people I don't know.
Most people seem to be OK but I do sometimes find myself couped up in a small place with people who I may not choose to associate with otherwise. I do sometimes wonder what I would do if one of them didn't do what (s)he was told.
This is what I think I would do :-

1. Explain that they are compromising flight safety and they must be quiet. I am the captain and they are legally obliged to comply with my reasonable requests.

Hopefully that would do the trick. If not...
2. Explain to them that if they don't do as they're told then the flight will be terminating at the nearest airfield as soon as possible.

If that doesn't work...
3. Tell them that by not complying with my requests, they are effectively hi-jacking the aeroplane, and that I shall arrange to have the police meet them at the nearest available airport.

and..., if that doesn't work...
4. Hit them over the head with the fire extinguisher.

I have to add that in 3 years of part time instructing, I've only ever had to get half way to stage 1.

I would also apply the same to friends who are travelling with me on a private flight and, since I have a choice who I take with me on private flights, I wouldn't take anyone for whom I thought that there was even a remote chance that they wouldn't do as they're told.
Wether they're excited or not, that's just the way it's got to be - anything else isn't safe.

Hopefully, with your passengers, it's just that they don't understand the seriousness of the situation - not that they actually want to be a pain. If so..., then you need to make sure that they do understand - probably in a pre-flight briefing and then perhaps a reminder or two in the air. If that doesn't work then they shouldn't be there - so treat it accordingly.

[Diplomate]

Whirlybird - How do I use the 24hr clock to spot aircraft??

I can cope with the clock face - but where do I find 13.00 to 24.00???

:confused: ;) :D

[foxmoth]

I usually chat to my pax over a cuppa beforehand and ask if they could hold the chat until I give the ok after TO and again after I ask them for quiet on the approach.
If you combine this with a reasonable comentary as you go along I think you should find most people stay quiet AND happy.

[Kermit 180]

Isolate them on the intercom. One at a time is best, if not then give just the front seater a headset.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Gently move the stick back and forth every few seconds. This is very sickmaking if you're not flying, and will quieten them down, whilst hopefully also reducing the risk of them wanting to go flying with you again.

It is important not to overdo this.

G

[poetpilot]

Although I've never had noisy pax to the point where they were a bad distraction, I have had one pax who tried to adopt the foetal position as we were on the climbout.

This was rather distracting, particularly as the aircraft had a stick as opposed to wheel control. Fortunately a combination of shouting at her and pulling her rather abruptly back cured the problem enough for me to fly a very quick circuit and land.

The one satisfying thing about it was that I'd never had a good excuse to shout at and attack my mother in law before. :)

[Keef]

Once, and only once, I had a passenger who went very quiet, then grabbed the coamung and held on to it like grim death.

It turned out that despite his previously brave comments, he had never flown. He was absolutely petrified. Had he frozen to the yoke instead of the coaming, I wouldn't be here.

So ... now, I ask quite a few questions before taking up anyone I haven't flown with before. :eek:

[LowNSlow]

There was a classic in Pilot about a chap who took a young lady for an aerobatic sortie. He had a hell of shock when she went into an epileptic seizure whilst holding the controls. He manged to break her grip far to close to the ground for comfort.

She had neglected to mention the fact that she was an epileptic preflight......

[FlyingForFun]

Was speaking to an instructor a while back who told me about a trial lesson he did several years ago. Lady turned up for the lesson, they did the standard briefing, then strapped in and took off. Shortly after take-off, student pressed the PTT button and started reciting the Lords Prayer! Instructor wrestled her hands away while shouting "what the f*ck do you think you are doing" (or words to that effect) and she explained that the reason she booked the flight was because she wanted to be nearer to God! The flight was terminated prematurely, and the student never came back, but presumably found other, more appropriate ways of being closer to God.

FFF
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