Nina's Adventures in Aviation
Ms. Nina fell asleep before we even taxied for takeoff. She stayed asleep most of the flight and only woke up the last ten minutes to each lots and lots of goldfish.
Advice to other parents: mount the car seat facing forward, not backwards. That way when the pilots accelerate for takeoff, their heads don’t flop down onto their chest.
On January 18, 2020, Ms. Nina got a very special airplane ride in a 1961 Dehavilland Otter (DHC-3). The flight was from Key West International Airport (EYW) to Dry Tortugas National Park. Ms. Nina was great on the 40 minute flight out, but was a little tired and cranky on the flight back.
Ms. Nina and Abba sat back in coach on an E-175 while Mommy got to enjoy first class en route to Key West. Nina was an excellent passenger.
Captain Nina had her first chance to sit in the left seat of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737. As you can probably see from the tears, she wasn’t quite ready to take the controls by herself, but rather, preferred sitting on Mommy’s lap. Maybe next time. Or maybe she’ll start off with a Schweizer SGS 2-33 instead.
Ms. Nina is already an expert passenger on one of her regular flights to Tampa. She was very happy to have her own seat on the flight. We luv Southwest Airlines!
Because Ms. Nina’s Mommy and Abba didn’t have Germany licenses, they could not fly a D-registered sailplane without an instructor. So instead, the parents took turns watching Ms. Nina who was watching the gliders while the other parent took a flight lesson. Ms. Nina plans to start taking soaring lessons as soon as she can walk and plans to earn her license in about 15 years.
At 16 months, Ms. Nina took her first international flight from IAD to FRA. The flight lasted approximately 8 hours on an Luftansa Airbus A-330. While she wanted to get a flight-deck seat and log some SIC flight time, she fell asleep in the back instead. Oh well, next time Airbus.
Ms. Nina attends her first fly-in just two days before her one-year birthday. The fly-in took place at AOPA headquarters in Frederick, MD. She was accompanied by her mother, her friend, and her friend’s mother (who is a licensed helicopter pilot).
Ms. Nina missed her first standby flight from BWI to TPA, so she is waiting at the USO for her next flight from BWI to RSW. In the meantime, she learns about Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness (LTE) in helicopters and how it is actually human-induced. She is eight months old.
Ms. Nina is enamored by her new mobile to keep her entertained while Abba is off flying. The mobile was homemade by her Abba and cousin Shiraz. Floating objects consist of an R44 helicopter, an airplane, a fire engine, and an ambulance.
