4 and a lap child in a Cessna?

M

meritflyer

Well-Known Member
While I am fairly certain it's legal, I thought I would get your opinions on this situation...

A good friend of mine has a 182 and has plans to put his wife, two kids, and brother in his plane for a trip. The catch (since it's 5 people) is that his small child is under 2 hence, not requiring a seat.

Two questions he presented to me for clarification -

1) Legality? I believe it's a legal configuration; and

2) Safe? There's always a risk when someone isn't strapped in.

JC'ers, what do you say?
 
meritflyer said:
While I am fairly certain it's legal, I thought I would get your opinions on this situation...

A good friend of mine has a 182 and has plans to put his wife, two kids, and brother in his plane for a trip. The catch (since it's 5 people) is that his small child is under 2 hence, not requiring a seat.

Two questions he presented to me for clarification -

1) Legality? I believe it's a legal configuration; and

2) Safe? There's always a risk when someone isn't strapped in.

JC'ers, what do you say?
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I wouldn't do it. Also with four people he already may be over gross in a 182.

Joe
 
contactground.9 said:
No way would 4, I'm assuming average sized people, be over gross in a 182.

I've been at a safe weight and balance with 4 average college students and full fuel in a 172.
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Must have been an old 172, or 3 very small college females (or both). The new 172's have awful load's. With 3 guys and 35 useable, you usually end up right at the weight limits of a 172S.
 
Any pilot who has seen what real turbulence looks like would NEVER let their child ride as a lap baby. Regardless if it's a Cessna or a Boeing. If you wouldn't do it in your car, then don't in an airplane.

You CAN NOT hold on to your baby in a crash, it' like catching a 120lb barbell.



It is legal, but not safe at all IMHO.
 
Does the lap child exemption apply to GA aircraft or is it only valid for 121/135 ops?

I personally wouldn't do it. It is unsafe and if you hit any appreciable turb or worse have something worse go wrong the kids is projectile or going to get crushed by the adult.
 
USMCmech said:
Any pilot who has seen what real turbulence looks like would NEVER let their child ride as a lap baby. Regardless if it's a Cessna or a Boeing. If you wouldn't do it in your car, then don't in an airplane.

You CAN NOT hold on to your baby in a crash, it' like catching a 120lb barbell.



It is legal, but not safe at all IMHO.
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Bandit_Driver said:
Does the lap child exemption apply to GA aircraft or is it only valid for 121/135 ops?

I personally wouldn't do it. It is unsafe and if you hit any appreciable turb or worse have something worse go wrong the kids is projectile or going to get crushed by the adult.
Click to expand...


+1 Legal and safe are almost always two different things. Anytime my son has gone with me, I strap his child seat into the seat for him.
 
In 2008 we were in a horrific car accident and my wife, who was in her seatbelt, was thrown around and suffered a massive concussion and permanent damage. She was saved because the steel cage on our Volvo held. She was thrown around and, yet, was secured in her seatbelt.

Imagine had she had a lap baby.

There is no way I'd do it.
 
I would strongly suggest against taking a lap baby along. If an emergency happened or you encountered some really rough turbulence it could get nasty, quick.
 
Definitely not worth the risk. Will anything happen? Most likely not, but if it did, you could end up regretting this for the rest of your life.
 
Make sure the lap child is not sitting in a position where he/she could be crushed. The child needs to be sitting sideways not up/down. That way the kiddie won't be crushed. I don't see a problem w/ it seeing the airlines do it all the time as long as the W&B works.
 
Legal? I'm not sure... I've seen it done in the Domincan Republic when I flew in... it looked scary as the C172 took off, haha...

... oh, and the C172 I saw was 4 adults and 1 kid.. I'm assuming that if you're under the max gross and in the envelope, it'll be OK.
 
Former pediatric ICU nurse and EMT- I saw a lot of dead kids due to being unrestrained.
DON'T do it.
 
I am highly, HIGHLY against the concept of lap children. The other posts above this express the same sentiments I have against the logic of holding a child instead of using a proper restraint in ANY moving vehicle.

Yes the # of people is legally okay, lap children are "allowed" per the FARs in GA airplanes. Like others have said though, be very sure that you're within the airplane's operating weight limits.
 
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