My wife often falls asleep once in the cruise portion of the flight. The sound of the engine… Just like in the car.
Our youngest daughter studies for her exam completely focused while in full IMC with lots of turbulence.
Or I offer In-Flight-Entertainment to my passengers.
My wife once wrote 3 blogposts giving her view on flying along with the title “How to get your wife to fly with you”. First blogpost can be found here: http://www.aeroplus.nl/how-to-get-your-wife-to-fly-with-you-part-1
That’s very good blog posts your wife wrote there! Obviously, esp. for Cirrus partners. but the first part applies universally.
I fly several times a year with my family (wife and two adult children). None of them is a qualified pilot and all of them seem quite happy on the 2 1/2 to 3 hour trips we do, the latest being a long weekend in Strasbourg returning yesterday.
Both my wife and daughter have done the excellent Cirrus Partner in Command course (details of which can be found on another website the name of which I Can’t Obviously Post at All….. 
)
Joking apart, that sort of Pinch Hitter course is a great idea because, not only does it help a non-pilot to deal with a possible pilot incapacitation (obviously the chute in the Cirrus is a big factor here) but it gives a bit of an insight into what actually goes on during a flight and occasionally results in the passenger spotting something that they otherwise wouldn’t have and which the pilot might have missed (never happened to me of course……. )
I think some other owners clubs offer something similar and I’d recommend it unreservedly.
Original question: flying your family.
If pilot is relaxed and pax comfortable I don’t see any problem.
I fly only VFR (sans gps): quite a few flights and weekend stop overs with my 12 year old son, so far only up and down Italy, great joy.
Might take him with me to Bordeaux beginning summer with my girlfriend depending on school term.
Ex wife always enjoyed our trips, is still complaining I haven’t yet taken her flying in my aeroplane.
I’ve taken my wife and kids (now age 7 and 8) flying just 3 times in as many years – and each time in near perfect VMC on short-ish local flights just for fun. We’ve toyed with the idea of going further afield – to see friends who live near Charlton Park and to the IOW / Cornwall / Devon etc. However, my wife is not particularly keen on flying (since we had an extremely bumpy (ie heads bouncing off the ceiling) flight back from Inverness once. She also understands that it can be unreliable due to wx and as she works full time, she has to be back for work with a reasonable degree of certainty. I’ve suggested we go away for the odd weekend when we don’t have the kids to get her back into it and to try to ignite some enthusiam from her but to no avail – she’d rather go to our favourite hotel in the Lake District. The kids love flying however and keep asking when we are going to fly X, Y and Z.
However, whenever I’ve flown with the kids, I feel extra pressure to make sure everything I’m doing is absolutely spot on. I know this is ridiculous because I don’t tend to make mistakes when flying with anyone else. As I’m sure you’ll all know, I’ve increasingly flown less over the last few years (just over 15 hrs last year), due to the aircraft (PA28, no AP etc), so unless I was flying at least say, 40 – 50 hrs a year i wouldn’t want to take the kids anyway.
Like many i think, i got into flying with a view to using it as a personal taxi, taking the family all over the place. The reality is somewhat different!
From my new guru , a repeat RV builder and family man (his blog here):
As it turns out, Flying is really the ultimate hobby to have while you have small children. Many young people tend to shy away from that sort of thing, whether it be from some perceived risk or more commonly, the expense. One concept though that we’ve always lived by is that if you don’t do it while you’re young, you’ll regret it later, and we wanted to share as much as we could with the kids while they were young. We partnered in an airplane with my Dad soon after learning to fly, and then poured ourselves into that. When the kids were both born, both of them were flying in airplanes within 5 weeks of birth. When they could barely walk, they’d stand up and look out the windows as we flew across the country. Flying is what made it possible for us to travel using a hobby we enjoyed, and involve the kids in what we were doing. The awesome family suitability of the hobby is what kept us so involved, and brought me to building an RV-10, and it’s been the most fun I’ve had in my life.
What a striking POV from this side of the pond
As to the OP’s question: I would, but not for a family of 6 (family of 4 for a 6 seater). I fly my wife and son around Europe in the Rallye and wish I had more UL. I am quite careful with weather and maintenance though.
But it takes a while to build up the required experience. Perhaps I was over conservative, but I waited until I had 200 hour TT before I took my first non-pilot passenger. People starting out are often unrealistic about how long a path it is.
I like to pre-position the plane in our vacation area (flying solo to get there), fly in commercial with everyone, then use the plane for trips (2.5 hours or under) to get around. We are mobile and flexible. Both wife and son like it. My wife does not like turbulence.
My plane is from an EASA country. I will go to N-Reg if I change planes.
As always, it depends. 200 hours in how many years ?
After the French basic license, you had to fly solo for 16 hours (within a 30km circle from your base) before taking a passenger. It makes you eager to take one as soon as you can
What do tou mean by « had more UL » ?
UL useful load
200 hours in about 2 years.
