Handling Passengers Part 3: Loud Passengers

Every year my home airport hosts a Fall Flying Festival and I always volunteer to fly passenger rides. These rides are given at a steep discount and they are always very popular.

To handle the demand the pilots shut down at a predetermined spot on the ramp and stay in the seat while loaders get the passengers switched out.

One year I reached the last flight of the day and two young children, probably around 8 years old, were placed into the back seat of the 172 I was flying. Takeoff went smoothly and I could hear them talking amongst themselves over the intercom. Soon they discovered that they could make loud noises into the microphone and startle each other.

Of course, this quickly escalated into a cacophony of constant loud DISTRACTING noise. I wasn’t about to discipline someone else’s children so I used a great tool at my disposal.

I isolated them. This means that I used the audio panel’s isolate feature so I couldn’t hear them anymore (at least not through my headset). This great feature gave me back my focus and the rest of the flight was uneventful.

To isolate others in the intercom on this audio panel, pictured above, press the ICS button. When it is in ISO mode the pilot will not hear anybody else but the passengers can still talk to each other. The CREW mode will allow both of the front seat occupants to talk without the back seat being part of it. Finally the normal setting is ALL.

I hope this helps the next time your passengers get out of hand!