In article ,
Peter Duniho wrote:
"Scott Post" wrote in message
...
I think it's because I knew it would be a sham - I wouldn't really be
flying the plane, so why bother? It would have felt patronizing. I'd
flown with my wife enough to know how much is really involved with flying
a plane and I had great respect for her skills. Taking the yoke for a
bit after she'd trimmed for straight & level wouldn't really be flying
so it didn't seem worth doing.

While I'm a strong supporter of your right to your own opinion , I'd still
like to point out that there is a difference between "flying" and
"piloting".

IMHO, the point of offering the controls to a passenger is to allow them to
"fly". That is, there really is something enjoyable about simply being in
control of an aircraft, and this can be shared with passengers.

I was only answering for myself. I still offer non-pilots a chance to
"fly" and most are tickled pink. My 8 year old "flew" with me on Friday
and had a ball. It just didn't interest me before I could do everything
myself.

snip

It's a moot point now, but I'll point out that you were probably flying the
airplane in your very first lesson (as all students do). The lack of
training should not have diminished the fact that you were flying, and just
as it shouldn't have then, it shouldn't in a non-training situation. The
only real difference between the two situations is that in one, a qualified
instructor is providing training. What *you* are doing is the same, and
that is flying.

The difference between being handed the controls briefly as a passenger
and taking a lesson is that the typical passenger only gets to hold the
plane level and maybe do some gentle turns. A student gets to take off,
climb, do climbing and decending turns, etc, all in the first lesson.
In fact, I got to do stalls and steep turns in my first lesson. My wife
(and most non-CFI pilots) wouldn't have been comfortable with me doing
much of that. A lot of people would be content just touching the yoke
in level flight, but that didn't interest me.

Someone else mentioned that it'd be like turning down an offer to drive
a friend's Corvette. I turned down an offer to drive my Brother in Law's
Corvette because driving it on the street didn't seem worthwhile. I
used to race motorcycles and get offers from friends with *really* nice
race-bred modern bikes to swap during street rides and I almost never
take them up on it. If I can't wring it out on a track I'd just as
soon pass. I understand I'm in the minority with that opinion.

As far as Jay's initial question - I think others have hit the nail on
the head that the passenger was probably just enjoying the scenery and
didn't want to be distracted by flying the plane.
--
Scott Post