Flying with Baby - getting there without going insane

Flying with Baby

getting there without going insane

Trips without baby - October 2006

I’ve taken two trips to regional cities in the past fortnight - one to Albury and the other to Tamworth. Both flights were with QantasLink which is a subsidiary of Qantas that flies to the smaller cities around the country.

Both flights were on Dash-8 aircraft. These aircraft are propellor planes, known as turboprops. The first time that I travelled on one of these planes was in the US when I flew between Seattle and Portland, Oregon on my way to a friend’s wedding. The flight was very short - it seemed that we climbed and then descended within about 20 minutes.

I used to be scared of these small planes (in fact, I used to be have a big fear of flying in any aircraft) but since my last trip which was in a tiny 8 seater plane I have become less scared. I actually enjoyed the flight for the first time in ages.

On both flights I was seated overlooking the wheels. On a large aircraft you don’t get to see the wheels because they are beneath the plane, but on a Dash-8 you can see them. It was interesting to watch them as we took off because they lift and extend slighly before they leave the ground. I also discovered that aeroplane tyres are filled with nitrogen (it says so on the wheelbase) - a fact that I didn’t know before this trip (but that is easily verified by a quick Google search!)