February is one of those dull months in the PNW with minimal flying adventures. When we got a call from friends to meet at The Hub at the Tacoma airport for Sunday brunch we thought why not! Yes, it is a 50 minute drive straight there from our house and 30 is to the airplane, but of course we would rather fly in! We head to the airport and with our pre flight complete load up. It is a 9 minutes flight from S50 to KTIW so no need for extra fuel today.
Today we decided to let The Little Dude sit up front with us because there is no need for a car seat at the other end of our destination and it is a short flight to keep him controlled on. The Little Dude sits on Mama Pilot’s lap for his first carseat-free ride. He loved it of course! It is trying though to control his feet and hands because there are buttons! Lots and lots of buttons, and levers and different colors, i mean who doesn’t want to check them all out. But since it is a short flight its fine to corral. There isn’t really a “how to teach your kid how to ride in the front of the plane” book, so were winging’ it.
Getting the ATIS before landing, we hear a friendly voice, its our friend Potsy! How exciting; always more fun when you know people where you are going. We land and get to spend sometime talking to our friend, the tower controller, before our other friends, The Birdies, arrive in their 172. The Little Dude is excited to see his friend, baby Birdie and we venture in for lunch. Of course our 3 year old wanted to wear his spiderman costume flying!
The Hub is such a great spot wether you fly in or drive in. The Hub is owned by a brewery in the area and has great food. They offer the kids crayons and menus and the atmosphere is casual. The food was delicious! We were surprised mostly that the crowd was mostly people who had driven in, rather than flown in- this must be a testament to their quality and reputation.
When we venture back outside, we hear the tower on a speaker and notice the airport has a designated area for visitors to observe the airport! This is so awesome! Because of security now everything has a fence around it. It is great to see a welcoming area with an elevated surface, a picnic table, and speakers playing the live air traffic communications with the aircraft and tower.
We load back up and head to S50 for our 10 minute flight. It is another overcast Seattle day. This leg, The Little Dude decides to sit in his normal seat in the 3rd row. We were like “okay?!” so he flopped around a bit, played down and did well for 3 year old standards.
We learned we can take him without a carseat, but I would rather have him in one just incase he needed the 5 point harness. Til next time!
