Protecting Little Ears
When you are a child born to aviation-tragic parents, there is this certainly in your young life: you’re going for a ride in an aeroplane soon. It may be the beginning of a life-time passion for you; an experience filled with wonder and excitement, or it may leave you very unimpressed with the flight, the aeroplane and perhaps even your parents.
Most children are resilient creatures. They’re more prepared to try new things than adults are and in many cases have greater capacity to see the good through the bad. However, children also absorb first experiences moreso than adults, and that memory colours their impressions through the rest of their lives. How important is it, then, that pilot parents do everything they can to make sure their child’s first flight is wondrous?
And perhaps the most important thing parents (or aunts/uncles) can do for the child is reduce the niggling annoyances that inevitably lead to fidgeting and distraction from the wonder of being airborne. A good place to start is the cabin noise.
Aircraft cockpits are noisy; we know that… it’s why we as adults wear headsets.
