Watch the right seat!

Today I was hoping to take advantage of some cooler weather to get up and do some flying. I was particularly excited to fly since it has been a few weeks and I also had the chance to make good on a promise to take a good friend up for a ride.

My friend, who shall remain nameless, has had the fortune of a privileged upbringing. His family has property in several states and he has flown extensively throughout the country on heavy metal, his father’s Challenger business jet, some twins and a lowly old single engine Pilatus… Pretty nice resume if I don’t say so myself. What he did disclose to me was that he had never had the chance to ride shotgun.

I am happy to oblige!

During my pre-flight brief, I was very clear about the do’s and don’ts and even a few what if’s. He listened intently and seemed eager to be under way. Since the Piper has only one way in and out – the door on the right side of the aircraft, we went through a couple of latch and unlatch the door routines so that he was thoroughly comfortable operating the door. I always tell my right seat passengers that the most important thing they need to do in an unplanned landing is to listen to my instructions and operate the door! Furthermore, failure to do so will result in footprints on their back as I exit the aircraft ahead of them…

With a clear understanding of all of the non-flying responsibilities, we were ready to take off. This was my favorite kind of flight. My passenger had a genuine interest in aviation and he was asking questions as fast as I could answer them. I let him have the terminal area chart and he was trying to keep track of where we were. I even unloaded the chore of keeping us out of the Class Bravo airspace. He was doing a great job! Asking me our altitude, and to verify our position on the chart was keeping him involved in and excited about our flight.

We were flying north of Falcon Field and over Fountain Hills, Rio Verde, Canyon Lake, and Scottsdale. Since it was still in the mid 90’s on the ground and we were flying around mountainous terrain, the ride wasn’t as smooth as it would be in cooler weather. Not to mention that a cold front was passing through and the winds were in the 10-20kt range. After about a half hour, I sensed that his enthusiasm was waning and I asked if he had enough for one day. His response was an unenthusiastic, “Whatever you want to do is fine with me.” I decided to head in so as not to ruin his first impression of flying a GA plane (in the right seat no less).

There was virtually no traffic in the pattern so we were cleared for a 3 mile right base on runway 22L. I was flying at pattern altitude when I reported my 3 mile right base for runway 22L - right in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains. Needless to say, at high noon, high temperature, and moderate wind, it wasn’t the most calm approach. Then I was asked to widen my base leg 20 degrees to the left to give way to some traffic on runway 22R. That being said, I ended up flying a two mile final.

As we lined up on the centerline, I began to explain the PAPI on the left side of the runway. My passenger seemed a little less interested than he was previously. I noticed that his posture had stiffened and he was staring intently at the runway numbers.

I put in the last notch of flaps and the plane pitched up a little (as is typical). He was visibly shaken by this sudden (albeit slight) pitching moment. I explained why it happened and he only managed a nod. Wind was about 12kts gusting to 16kts and it was a right quartering headwind. Thus we were coming in on a pretty good crab angle – almost 45 degrees. I tried to explain that this was a “normal” approach and we were at an angle due to the quartering headwind and he could rest assured that I would kick in the right amount of rudder to straighten us out before we touched down.

By now he was visibly nervous and I was beginning to feel sorry for him and somehow responsible for him not enjoying this flight. The weather wasn’t bad and I’m sure that an approach in his father’s Challenger would look significantly different. I tried to explain that the turbulence was easier to feel in my Piper because there was a lot less metal and it was easier for Mother Nature to push around than his father’s plane. As I passed over the threshold, I added in enough rudder to line us up nicely on the centerline.

Then we slipped nicely into ground effect and I knew that I was in for a nice landing. Flying a 2-mile final gives you plenty of time to set up a good approach… Apparently the sensation of flying in ground effect was not as pleasurable for my passenger. No sooner had I finished complimenting myself on a landing that I hadn’t yet made, he let out a, “Whoa,” and stomped on the rudder pedals as if to brace himself for a crash. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t have been too big of a deal; however, I did mention that we had a quartering headwind and we were quickly being blown off of the centerline and we were drifting over to the edge of the runway!
I yelled, “Get your feet off of the rudder pedals!” He looked at me with shock and horror and I repeated my command and this time I pointed down to his feet for clarification. He quickly pulled his feet back and I quickly let the tower know that we were going around.

My passenger began the process of apologizing profusely and I simply replied that it was OK. We went around and, much to my chagrin, I floated the landing and came down with a thump. I must admit that the whole experience had me a little shaken. I don’t really know what the lesson learned here would be. I was very thorough during my pre-flight and went over the do’s and don’ts explicitly telling him to not touch the yoke, pedals, or any of the instruments. Furthermore, for 99% of the flight, he obliged. My only thought is that the next time I take a non-pilot up in the right seat, I will use this story as an example of what can happen if my passenger fails to explicitly comply with my pre-flight brief!

Flight time: 0.7

Total time: 95.1