Flying Companion – A Pilot-Friendly Manual Free AOPA

Quite often, our non-pilot flying companions feel like helpless passengers. They may be intimidated watching you juggle an endless stream of tasks right next to them in the cockpit. They’d love to help you…they’re just not sure how.

That’s where this manual comes in. It’s written in a hands-on and practical style. The goal is to help your flying companion (typically a spouse or friend who flys with you regularly) feel more comfortable in the right seat, and let you offload simple (but useful) tasks that they are perfectly capable of handling for you. It gives them a far greater understanding of the things that seem normal and comfortable for pilots—before, during and after the flight.

By involving your flying companion in the flight, you’ll not only get much-needed assistance, but they’ll enjoy flying with you even more. You’ll instill in them a sense of pride that comes with helping you plan and accomplish a safe and enjoyable flight.

When you step back and analyze all the things you need to do during the course of a routine flight, you’d be surprised by how many items could be offloaded to a passenger if they are properly trained to help you.

Let’s be clear: we’re not suggesting that your passenger land the airplane or fly an instrument approach. However, they can perform functions that will lighten your load. Things like getting weather updates or finding a frequency, although simple, can lead to task saturation if your workload is already maxed out. Your companion is more than capable of doing these things if they are taught how.

We were careful in selecting tasks that could easily be accomplished by a non-pilot without jeopardizing safety. Some companions will be more ambitious than others, but any task you can offload will help reduce your workload, and that’s just good CRM.