Most of the folks I fly GA with are airline or otherwise professional pilots, who spend the money on training and maintenance so that they needn't rely upon luck, and maintain a high level of currency in their GA airplanes. If it's someone I don't know, I want access to the flight controls.I come from an aviation family; my dad is a commercial rated private pilot, and my younger brother has his private. My brother was incensed one day when asking me if I'd yield a front seat in the family 210. (Asking my dad certainly wasn't an option!) Having been uncomfortable on a handful of occasions in the back seat of a Cessna, I told him, "I don't fly the backseat anymore." He thought that was the most pompous, arrogant thing he'd ever heard. Until my dad said, "I understand and agree."
As an occasional CFI, I don't worry too much about who I fly with if I have access to the controls. However, I'm very selective with whom I'll ride in the back...excepting professional crews in their element.
My position on it is that of @U_of_I_Tweak :
Most of the folks I fly GA with are airline or otherwise professional pilots, who spend the money on training and maintenance so that they needn't rely upon luck, and maintain a high level of currency in their GA airplanes. If it's someone I don't know, I want access to the flight controls.
Im the same way.. Think of all the "BS" we do as airline pilots in training and all the seemingly annoying things we must do on a daily basis in the name of safety. Look at all the technology that's been added to airplanes in the name of safety. After All that Ill be damned if Im going to leave my family fatherless b/c I wanted to barnstorm a neighbor. I still enjoy taking my kid to the airport and having him point at airplanes though.
