If you get the cockpit there safely, all is well! Here is video I shot from the back seat Saturday of my 15-year-old son landing a Beech Commander - with assistance from a flight instructor, Glenn. Glenn is an airline pilot and certified flight instructor presently flying an Embraer 145 for American. Last May I conducted his wedding to a member of my church; Angie met him when she started taking flying lessons and he was her instructor. My son is not taking lessons, but is really interested in going to the US Air Force Academy, so Glenn agreed to donate an hour of instructor time to give my son a feel for flying. My wife and nine-year-old daughter occupied the back seat most of the hour, then my wife and I swapped seats so I could tape from inside. My daughter said flying in a small plane (her first time) is "better than Disney world!"

I learned to fly at the Fort Sill flying club back in 1977, but transferred to Korea before I took my FAA exam, and never picked it back up afterward. I did fly an ultralight in Maryland in 1994, once, and that was really a lot of fun.