What It’s Really Like To Fly In A Private Plane

Why A Small Plane Feels Completely Different Than A Commercial Flight

I have flown on plenty of commercial airliners but climbing into the cockpit of a small private plane was something entirely different. Within minutes of takeoff, I understood why private pilots love flying.

By Kevin Wilkerson, Editor & Publisher, PubClub.com 

The pilot looks to his – or her – left and the right, and yells out “clear the prop!”

He – or she – then turns a key and the engine seems to cough a little before coming to life, kind of like me when I have to wake up early in the morning.

Flying in a small private plane is a heck of a lot different than flying in a commercial airliner. It’s also a bigger thrill in ways that I could not have begun to imagine until I experienced it for myself.

For starters, you get to wear a headset. The kind with the big, round earpieces and a microphone by the mouth. That’s just cool.

Secondly, you get to watch the pilot, whether you are in the co-pilot’s seat in the front or in the back. You get to see them go through their checklist, turn a bunch of mysterious knobs and switches and get to hear them talk to the control tower (in jargon I can’t begin to understand; what the heck does “papa” mean. To a writer, it’s Ernest Hemingway).

 

I have two friends with private planes in Southern California, Rob (who calls his red, white and blue Cessna “Captain America”) and Ramona (who calls herself Sky Chick), and I’ve been up in each one’s plane.

At first, I was a bit apprehensive; after all, the distance from the door to out of the plane is about the thickness of my iPhone, and of course each plane only has one engine so if something were to go wrong, well…

But then we take off and – wow, that’s so smooth and easy! The planes rise to around 4,000 feet, which means when we’re over the beach and the water you’re high enough to know you’re in the air but low enough to see a lot more detail than is possible in a commercial airliner.

In Southern California, there are so many places to fly to, too, although just flying around is fun. You can sky over the Hollywood sign, the Queen Mary and even pop over to Catalina Island to its “Airport In The Sky” for its locally famous Buffalo Burger.

Or go to Palm Spring, Santa Barbara, San Diego, the Central California wine county and even up to Carmel and Monterey.

If you want to fly like PubClub.com around Southern California you either need good friends with a plane or you can hire a pilot to take you around, up and over the places. For me, I’m fortunate to have friends like Sky Chick and Captain America.

So where are we off to next?  Who knows, but I’m definitely “up” for the adventure.

What Surprised Me Most

• How smooth it was in the place
• How much I could see from the air
• How at east I felt; was not at all frightened during the flight

Private Plane Q&A

Is flying in a private plane scary?

I expected it to be, but after takeoff I quickly relaxed. Watching an experienced pilot go through every checklist gave me confidence.

Can passengers wear aviation headsets?

Yes. Every passenger wears a headset so everyone can hear each other and communicate during the flight.

Is flying in a small plane smoother than flying commercially?

In my experience, takeoff was surprisingly smooth. Flying lower also made the scenery far more interesting than what you typically see from a commercial jet.

What’s the biggest difference?

The feeling of actually being involved in the flight.

Kevin Wilkerson is the founder of PubClub.com, an award-winning journalist and nightlife expert who has covered destinations, events and nightlife for more than two decades. While working as a newspaper reporter, he received an Associated Press award for investigative journalism.

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