Something Wonderful: 6 Degrees of Freedom -- Who Expresses Joy Better Than a Child?

Awwww. What a cute kid, and what a little adrenaline lover! Must run in the family!

I have to say, Quebecois French sounds like a great language for talking about delight.

Posted by Suburbanbanshee at June 19, 2015 11:10 AM

Oui, encore!

Posted by waltj at June 19, 2015 11:46 AM

Delightful to watch her glee with this! After WWII (flying a B-29) my father decided to get his single-engine license. One Sunday, on our usual drive, we stopped at a small airfield to see the planes. He asked me whether I'd like to go for a ride. I, of course, said yes! We went for a spin in a Cessna, I think, and that was my first ride. He marveled in later years that I so easily accepted his invitation without any fear. My response was that at 6 years of age I was certain that my daddy could do absolutely ANYTHING and, after all, didn't everyone's father fly planes? There was absolutely no trepidation on my part. I wonder, however, about my mother who was also along on the Sunday drive. She hated flying and airplanes (she married a pilot!) and how she must have felt seeing me climb in that plane. I wish I'd asked her about that.

Posted by Dinah at June 19, 2015 12:08 PM

I took my daughter up in the back seat like that at about 8 years old. I said she could hold the stick to feel what it was like. As soon as we were off the ground, the controls felt funny, and I was kicking myself for having brought my kid into a dangerous situation. As I was moving the stick around to see if I could figure out what seemed to be binding, I heard a groan from the back seat, "Daddy, that hurts my arm!" She had a death-grip on the stick, and I was nearly pulling her little arm out of its socket trying to get enough forward stick! After I told her it was okay to let go, everything was fine, except my nerves.

Another time I took a co-worker for a glider ride, and she rode in the front seat as I was used to flying from the instructor's position in the rear. At release altitude I pulled the release tee-handle and nothing happened!! I knew I could break the rope if I needed to, but I wanted to avoid the sharp maneuver that would take, so I calmly suggested she might want to "help" by pulling the release handle in the back. She did and the towrope released.

After a nice soaring flight, I told her what had happened, and she thanked me profusely for not letting her know what the real situation was!

I had checked the release in preflight with s ground-crew pulling on the rope, a normal step in the checklist, and it worked fine, but I suppose the force was not as much as in the air, and in the air it did NOT work fine. The maintenance people got a major ass-chewing out of it.

Posted by Ray Van Dune at June 19, 2015 12:51 PM

I feel cheated. 5000+ hours worldwide and I could never take anyone for ride and/or do whatever I wanted. I did let an American kid sit in the copilot seat of a DC-6 one time while we taxied it to a parking spot at Los Cerrillos, Santiago.

Posted by BillH at June 19, 2015 2:29 PM

Hey, it's the world best roller coaster. The only thing that compares is stepping out the door.

Posted by ed in texas at June 19, 2015 5:41 PM

Thank you very much for the palate cleanser. I needed it today.

Posted by Dave at June 19, 2015 7:11 PM

Best video in a really long time. A child absolutely delighted with going for a ride in Dads airplane.

Posted by Glenn at June 19, 2015 8:43 PM

In the mid 20s my father learned to fly , taught my mother to fly and together they opened the first airport in Northern Kentucky at that time ….across river from Cincinnati . The State Governor award him the honor of being a " Kentucky Colonel " . I came along 15 years later but we still had planes and I rode with both parents . Front seat in a Waco …. wearing cotton helmut + goggles …at age of 4-5 . First time acrobatics , I was ~ 7 . Back seat of a Piper Cub . At my request , 3 loops in a row , with me hanging on to the struts ( like she did ) . Terrified but exhilarated and proud of myself for participating in such an adventure . Very disorienting to see the " world " literally turn upside down for the first time . Thus , I am astonished at her complete lack of concern and natural fear for the situation . She is a very admirable / impressive / special child . As is her Dad . ( Cause It sure did frighten me .)

Posted by Al Boyers at June 20, 2015 6:19 AM

It helps a lot that Dad is a very smooth flyer and adept at maintaining mostly positive Gs all the way around and over - very impressive. Note how the horizontal stabilizer stays well above the horizon for quite a while before he enters the maneuver - he's getting the nose down and putting the spurs to'er to carry lots of speed.

Posted by Ray Van Dune at June 20, 2015 8:50 AM

Dad's cute too!

Posted by Marilyn at June 20, 2015 1:15 PM

I stopped flying long before my daughter was born (she's going on 22 now) but what was really, really special to me about this video was not the child's obvious delight (special though it is) but the memories of all the incredible and irreplaceable times I had with my own daughter, especially those when she was equally delighted as this blessed young lady.

When that pilot dad is as old as me, he know what I know: flying was fun, but my daughter's laughter, well, that was the greatest thrill on earth.

Enjoy that precious girl, dad. She'll be grown and gone before you blink.

Posted by Donald Sensing at June 20, 2015 2:58 PM

Such a precious child. It fills your heart!

Posted by Thalpy at June 20, 2015 3:14 PM