As I begin the process of analyzing a potential aircraft purchase and I start taking a look at the right aircraft for my set of needs, I have a nagging and somewhat dark question that I struggle with...
Would you (do you) routinely fly with all of your immediate family in the same aircraft on the same flight?
Here's the deal;
I have a family of four consisting of my wife and I and our two children ages 6 and 8.
Just this past Father's day, I finally made my dream a reality by sharing my love of flight w/ each of my children. I rented a local spam can 172 and took each of them on a short, local area flight.
While I could have taken them both, I made the decision to fly them separately. I based this decision largely on the fact that in the event of a catastrophic accident, I wouldn't wipe the entire generation out.
Now I know that if I held on to that logic, I would never put all four of us in one family vehicle and drive (I'm well aware of how much safer flying is vs. driving), none the less, it weighed on me and I separated the two.
A little more backstory; About two years ago, I had a close colleague at work who had an airplane that he split w/ his son. The son loaded up the airplane w/ his wife and two kids and crashed. In that one moment my friend lost his son, daughter-in-law and both grand kids. It was tragic. The son was an accomplished pilot and instructor, the cause of the accident is still unknown.
Bringing this full circle, I'm conflicted on weather or not to focus on a 4 place w/ the intent of loading the whole family and heading out on an x-country or focusing on a 2-place and doing what I normally do (a little local area weekend fun).
Pretty certain I've answered my own question, but I'm interested in your perspective on this topic.
Would you (do you) routinely fly with all of your immediate family in the same aircraft on the same flight?
Here's the deal;
I have a family of four consisting of my wife and I and our two children ages 6 and 8.
Just this past Father's day, I finally made my dream a reality by sharing my love of flight w/ each of my children. I rented a local spam can 172 and took each of them on a short, local area flight.
While I could have taken them both, I made the decision to fly them separately. I based this decision largely on the fact that in the event of a catastrophic accident, I wouldn't wipe the entire generation out.
Now I know that if I held on to that logic, I would never put all four of us in one family vehicle and drive (I'm well aware of how much safer flying is vs. driving), none the less, it weighed on me and I separated the two.
A little more backstory; About two years ago, I had a close colleague at work who had an airplane that he split w/ his son. The son loaded up the airplane w/ his wife and two kids and crashed. In that one moment my friend lost his son, daughter-in-law and both grand kids. It was tragic. The son was an accomplished pilot and instructor, the cause of the accident is still unknown.
Bringing this full circle, I'm conflicted on weather or not to focus on a 4 place w/ the intent of loading the whole family and heading out on an x-country or focusing on a 2-place and doing what I normally do (a little local area weekend fun).
Pretty certain I've answered my own question, but I'm interested in your perspective on this topic.