Flying with pregnant pax
 

I'm looking for some learned opinions regarding flying with someone who is pregnant. A friend wants to propose to his fiancé by flying over a paddock with the proposal written out in hay bales :-) his fiancé is 33 weeks pregnant, the aircraft is a C172 the flight will be about 30min at no more than 2000'. I can assume that there will be no problem with pressurisation but I'm not sure about comfort, seat belt effectiveness, bumps and possible emergency procedures. If anyone can offer some advice, personal experience etc. that would be much appreciated.

As you say pressurization is no dramas - 2,000 ft is no worse than a Sunday drive in the hills.

Bumps? No dramas. My Mrs was 38 weeks pregnant and I was bouncing her around in a 3 metre inflatable across Port Phillip bay.

Just keep the seatbelt as low as you can around her waist and hope that it's big enough.

...making hay while he was making hay..... :E

One has to ask.....

Sounds like he proposed to her 33 weeks ago. :):):)

She had had enough... we were trying to bounce that baby right out of there!

If you are feeling paranoid, take a towel and put it behind the back seats where it can be retrieved if her waters break. You don't want that stuff getting all over your aeroplane!

Would be best to keep her out of a control seat so that there will be no issue with full and free movement of controls or related harm in the event of an emergency.

If there is any anxiety, encourage looking out to the horizon and breathing normally with slow deep breaths rather than rapid short, shallow breathing.

It sounds like a short flight so I don't think you will have any dramas. Make sure the weather is nice...! :)

What he said and definitely don't want the waters to break. I was told by the RFDS that it can ground their aircraft for days while they clean the mess up.

They would have been taking the piss. It's not that bad ! It's a slow leak at best :-)

Contrary to the TV shows it doesn't flow out like a waterfall, happens slowly, is not acidic and is relatively odourless.

The midwife who delivered my second son would disagree with you on that one!

DF.

Make sure that you carry plenty of hot towels just in case there's a birth aboard..

please tell us the result!

Squawk 7700. It can be a flood.

And yes it's very corrosive to aluminium, like blood.

No. That was just a proposition back then.http://cdn.pprune.org/images/smilies/evil.gif

Correct. I have been reading some Outback Midwives ebooks & one of them was written by an RFDS midwife. They use rubber mats, & hope to hell that it is all contained within. As I said earlier, the midwife who delivered my second son (in a hospital though, not in an aircraft) can attest to the fact that it can indeed be a flood. She copped it all down the front of her uniform!

DF.

Well it seems sanity has prevailed and he has reconsidered! He has put the idea on hold until after the baby is born. I'm sure he doesn't want to propose during labour if he wants a positive response :-)

Um yeah - he might not get the answer he wants! ;)

DF.