What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Infant Aviators....??

Phil

Well Known Member
Today Landon turned 4 weeks old and Sara and I both are itching to get up in the air and go somewhere. We're looking for July 4th events to fly to and even a few local hops to get the baby used to being in the air and dealing with the noise.

Thanks to a tip by Bill Repucci, we picked up a pair of these.

For those of you who have flown with infants, what's been your experience? Has the noise and motion helped keep them to sleep? What about climbs and descents - have you had success with a bottle or pacifier? How early did you start flying and how many hours were your trips/legs?

As we put together our plans, you're experience with babies in the backseat might help provide some guidance.

Thanks,
Phil


0049.jpg


0065.jpg
 
Cute

Great Pics! I bought the same outfit for my daughter. Her nursery theme is elephants, and when I saw the elephant flying the airplane, I couldn't pass it up. Not the most girly colors, but I'll figure out how to make it work!
 
Get advice from an expert

My wife, a speech/language pathologist, has suggested you consult a pediatrician or a pediatric audiologist before exposing your baby to such loud noises. I've got a 6 month old myself and know how fun it is to have the kid participate, but their little ears are super delicate. Even a mild hearing loss now could cause serious problem with language development.
 
My friend started flying his daughter at two weeks old. She just turned six months and she has over 50 hours logged! I know they generally stay around 6,000' and come down at about 200-300 fpm. I will check what they do for ear protection.
 
11 months

I took my daughter for her first ride at just under 2 years. My son, I took him up at 11 months.

I used to fly one or the other down to grandmas house fairly often. I would time the flights to be around nap time. On most trips, they would be asleep 5 minutes after takeoff and would sleep for the whole hour flight.

Under 3 years, I would always carry a sippy cup for the kids. If they ever had trouble with decents, I would get them to drink from it, and it would usually clear them.

One warning... never fly them when they're sick or has a snotty nose. It makes it difficult for them to clear their ears. Not a pleasant experience for either of us.

-Aaron
 
Peltor Junior Hearing Protection

Peltor makes ear muffs for kids:

DSC_1915.JPG


This photo above was taken when the twins were 16 months, but we flew them across the country for the first time when they were four months old. Long legs, long days, high altitudes, they handled it all very well. It was really not any more difficult than anything else with twins, except that we had a hard time keeping the hearing protection on them at that age.

DSC_0994.JPG


Our airplane is on the quiet side, but I worried about the noise anyways. The kids enjoy wearing the hearing protectors now.
 
Last edited:
Great Pics! I bought the same outfit for my daughter. Her nursery theme is elephants, and when I saw the elephant flying the airplane, I couldn't pass it up. Not the most girly colors, but I'll figure out how to make it work!

Hey Bart, is V gonna let you do a photo shoot like that with Dee?
Awesome pictures Phil!
 
Baby Will got his wings!

We took my son up for his first RV flight on Friday. He's 5 months old. I'm no expert on the picture posting, but here goes...

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__rnx4whmvlw/S...DBZWBm_4/s144/Will's First Flight 5-21-10.jpg

I was surprised how well he did. He squinted a little with the sun, but the noise didn't seem to bother him a bit. He also didn't seem to mind the earmuffs. This was just a test flight close to the airport. We didn't get above 1500 AGL.

Greg
RV-7A
 
Your question reminded me of a story.

I was a human powered avgas installer when I was in high school back when Destin FL was still known as 81J.

A guy landed in his C-210 with his wife and 2 young kids. Curious I asked him how his kids took to the noise and long flights (they frequented down from Iowa). His words to me were "they're great! Once we get up to cruise they go right to sleep!" When I asked, and found out he was frequently cruising up between 12-15K' I had to ask if he was sure his kids weren't passing out from hypoxia. He got this quizzical look on his face and asked me what I meant. I almost fell off the ladder while I was pumping gas in his plane.

Working as a ramp rat there gave me scarey insight into some othe the individuals out there flying airplanes.

In my next installment of "Stupid people and planes", I'll tell you all about the story of the twin cessna (C340 I think) that landed with the weather at 300 and 1/2, back when all we had was an NDB approach and the mins were 600+' and 1-1.5nm. He took 138.8 gallons. TOTAL capacity was 140.
 
Last edited:
Ok, I can't resist adding my own story. In 1995 we had the very first 3 seat RV as far as I know. My son started flying in it when he was about 15 months old.

Here is my airplane loving son (I kid you not, airplane was the first word he said) at the Arlington Fly-in 1996, preflighting our RV-6A. Age - 20 months

adamarlingtonflyin1996.png




Almost 15 years later. Different airplane, different seat, still loves to fly.

He is making his first ever trip to OSH with me this year. We have come a long way, my how time fly's.

Phil, take lots of pictures and video, it will seem like a blink of an eye and he will be asking to borrow the airplane keys.
 
Last edited:
Daughters first flight

My daughters first flight was at 4 months in the back of our Piper Warrior, not counting the times before she was born. I measured the sound pressure level before she came with us and from memory it was 81 dBa. For her hearing protection we used to tape industrial foam ear plugs "over" her ear openings as we didn't want to push them in. She always slept the first 2 hrs of the regular 3 hour flight to visit relatives. Max altitude 7500 ft and very gentle climb and decend (easy in a Warrior). She never had pain from the pressure differences. Now she is 6 years old and has her own headsets.
I love having her fly with me and can't wait till it's in the RV.
 
Be careful

Quizzed our doctor about it because our grandchild was 4 months old on his first flight. They told us it should not be a problem physcially if you take plenty of time on the descent. They were much more worried about the noise than anything else. This was in the back of our Baron so it was already quieter than the RV.

We puchased the Peltor JRs which were the smallest headsets available but were still a little big for a 5 month old. We also used the soft silicone ear plugs under the Peltors and they worked very well. He had no problem and tolerated them very well once they were in. Warm them first and they go in easy and fit well, don't force them or push them in deep. They aren't completely airtight and work better than the sponge type.

He cried a little while we were loading up but as soon as the engines were started, he went directly to sleep and pretty well stayed that way the full trip. ( 2 hours ) He woke up when we shut down.

I would have been very uncomfortable without the silicone plugs as the muffs moved around a lot and I was afraid they wouldn't seal.

Don't take the noise lightly as you are making a lifetime decision for your child. Be careful and make your descents very gradually. Should be no problem with muffs and plugs. (my opinion )

Bill S
7a almost there
 
Baby flying

Here was our solution to the "third seat":

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=393138#post393138

Also, we used passive earmuffs for her - the earplugs kept falling out. She just goes right to sleep every time. We are always careful to have her suck on a bottle while descending, just to help her clear ears. I recently acquired a pair of Bose QuietComfort 15s that I will try with the baby next time - they are the active noise-canceling headsets people use on airliners. The nice thing is they are smaller, lighter, and have no cords, so they are easier for the baby to use than standard aviation noise-canceling headsets.

BTW, we asked a pediatrician about baby flying beforehand. The answer we got was to stay below 6000' MSL. I think that was a totally made up number, because an airliner's cabin pressure is usually around 7-8000'. We used 8000' as our preferred maximum altitude, although we've gone a bit higher when we need to for short periods (flying in Idaho, sometimes 8000' is not good enough).

Happy flying!
 
Last edited:
All of you folks talking about flying with the little kids in the back, are you 100.0% cartain your kids ears, eustacian tubes, etc. are in proper condition for the pressure variations and you're protecting them from the noise levels? There's one thing that trumps the fun of flying and that's the feeling you get when you find out that your child's hearing is damaged. From personal experience, they won't always cry or let you know when there's something wrong. My situation wasn't flying related.
 
Back
Top