Sitting in Museum Aircraft

Visitors to Highland Aviation Museum, who remember Dr Strandelove, also enjoy riding the nuclear bomb. With, or without, a cowboy hat.

I think at Highland Aviation Museum you get chucked out if you Dont get in the cockpits :highly_amused:

I take my 5 and 6 years old’s down and they run from cockpit to cockpit for hours. I think I will have to invest in a season ticket this year, they have been asking every weekend to go and play on the “broken aeroplanes” but the museum is closed for the winter.

Cockpits that are open

Nimrod MR2
Valiant
Buccaneer S1
Buccaneer S2B
Lightning
HP Herald

Alas i’m too big to fit in the Valiant and Lightning :apologetic:

Classic Jets at Parafield Airport, Adelaide, South Australia have a made up cockpit for the kids and used to allow sitting in the Sea Venom. Occasionally they have open cockpit days where a volunteer will man each aircraft and supervise patrons sitting in them.

St. Eval 1957 and I am still alive to tell the tale with not a hand rail or crash mat in sight. Head gear was optional but it would have been rude not to.

Following the donation of this display of my father’s original map and logs for the Nuremberg raid 30/31 March 1944 my brother and I were privileged to have free access to NX611 on a number of occasions courtesy of the Pantons. To see first hand my father’s “office” and sit in the tail gunner position was much appreciated.

Even for a life-long aviation fan, sitting in a vintage cockpit can be a treat.
At the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson I was invited top a special open night for volunteers and assorted VIPs.

You felt fast just sitting in a Mustang…likewise the SR-71.
And I purposely sat in the co-pilot’s seat of the B-17 Shoo Shoo Baby..because that’s where Bert Stiles (Serenade to a Big Bird), one of my literary heros, sat on a wartime op in that very aircraft.
The museum also had a ex-film set F-4…and now a F-16…cockpit for visitors to sit in.

I’ve been to a couple of museums where they have aircraft in the children’s section…where they can move sticks and the hopefully learn about something.
The Museum of Flight in Seattle has a WAR subscale replica (I can’t recall which type…I believe a Corsair or FW-190) and a early Rotorway homebuilt helicopter for that.

The USS Intrepid in NYC has a civil Bell 47G-5 cabin painted up like a MASH machine…kids of all ages were getting photos taken in it.

Personally, any time my son and I have visited a museum, it’s the “sitting in cockpits” that really makes it for us.

I suppose we (hope!) we represent the sensible, thoughtful “look at everything carefully and understand it” brigade, rather than the “flick merry hell out of everything” brigade!

Anyway, open cockpit days at Midland Air Museum and CockpitFest at NAM are highlights for us!

We have numerous aircraft at the Bournemouth Aviation museum that are accessable to members of the public (viscount, Lightning, canberra, meteor, hunter, wessex, Grumman AA5) and restricted access to Vulcan, Boeing 737 and eventually the One Eleven, The kids love it, as do the Dads. We do have signs up saying that parents are responsible for the safety of the kids. We did have an incident last Sunday when a little lad came out of the 737 holding his head and sobbing…….turned out his elder sister thumped him 😉

Unless of course little Johnny hurts himself and then the solicitors will be hunting through H & S legislation to find a way to get a few quid !

Exactly,:(

I want to get the public (and their little offspring) into cockpits – both at Speke and with my own when attending shows. However, there are always those who, quite literally, abuse the privilege treating it like a playground toy or an abandoned hulk. I suppose that a certain amount of this behaviour is inevitable but one should always be on ones guard to effect damage limitation in such circumstances.

Letting people into flyers is a different matter entirely. One needs to be very selective and the viewer very well supervised. There is, after all, a potentially serious flight safety issue in these circumstances.

Most people are respectful and appreciate what they are experiencing but it can be very trying when children and parents ignore the No Food rule dripping melting ice cream everywhere and smearing greasy hands over everything. There is also, occasionally, the youngster who insists on testing every knob, lever and switch almost to the point of destruction. The parents are no better when, upon comment being made to try and calm things down a bit, they give you such a look of disdain that it does not surprise you that their little darlings behave the way they do.

One must anticipate the fact that, occasionally, you will get the odd Berserker trying to trash the place. It’s usually too late by the time they are in but at least you can call time when you see things heading downhill at a rapid rate. The fact is that cockpits are not toys. They are the control desk of sorts by which an aircraft was induced to flight and were actually built for adults, not children.

We aim to educate by allowing people to experience what it feels like to sit at the controls of a machine designed for flight – but it is really more of an experience for adults and merely a plaything for children. However, that experience can and will broaden the mind of a youngster who is sufficiently interested. What it is not is a method of entertainment for a bored child or a parent who has run out of ideas. Children under ten rarely appreciate what they are doing and are usually only in your cockpit because dad either can’t get in or won’t ask and frequently don’t even want to be there.

Displaying and accessing cockpits at a museum should, I believe, warrant a more stringent approach with an expectation that the person entering the cockpit is more controlled and understanding of what it is they are doing. At an airshow, in reality you are seen as little better than a fairground ride and treated accordingly. It can be very trying but, unfortunately, is unavoidable from time to time.

The only antidote is selective entry and good supervision. This also avoids any possibility of injury although one can never be entirely immune to a spurious claim should someone be of that mind. Luckily, I/we have avoided this scenario – but it always lurks in the back of one’s mind. If you’re not happy then just say no.

On the other hand, it is a rewarding experience when the person trying the cockpit is obviously enjoying it. I look for what I call the Phantom Grin – the look and the smile that is seen then the person is immersed in the (in this case the Phantom) aircraft and is obviously overawed by what they are seeing. This certainly makes it seem worthwhile of the time, effort and expense to take it to the event.

Anon.

Unless of course little Johnny hurts himself and then the solicitors will be hunting through H & S legislation to find a way to get a few quid !

I don’t see why Health and Safety would need to be involved at all. HSE regulations are there to minimise risk, and not to ban everything out of hand, although some organisations do use them to do just that. It is poor understanding of the regulations that cause all the trouble, or, very often, people who don’t want to take responsibility for anything.

Bruce

You and I both know that is the meaning of the H&S regulations but the H&S jobsworths seem to think it means a total ban on anything enjoyable.

Heavens above…I worry more about the damage to the aircraft than to the visitor in the cockpit.Little blighters flicking switches,violating rudder pedals,older ones with a screwdriver trying to remove instruments and everyone clambering over seats and centre consoles with gay abandon(thinks..is that PC these days?). Don’t let em in unless you’ve got plenty of spares!

Yes but what happens about, you enter or whatever at your own risk? Or doesn’t that exist anymore. Its rediculace. if we had stringent H&S Rules 70 years ago there would be no aeroplane’s. Sorry but we cant fly for the Battle of Britain MR Churchill cuz of the H&S rules. Toooo risky!!!

I have certainly sat in various cockpits of nose sections and whole aircraft over the years in various museums.

Bruce – I think the problem arises from the litigious society we seem to have bread in recent years. If some careless individual injures themselves clambering about a cockpit and sues the museum it won’t do the museum’s finances much good!

The HAPS up in Inverness allow access to most if not all of their aircraft, as do the BDAC down at Old Sarum. Both are great little museum staffed by some genuinely nice folk.

Iv’e done a few tours on the Lancaster as a guide.
I was upset to learn that due to H&S no more tours would take place.
Veterans of many wartime missions are now, in the twilight years of their lives, and denied the one last chance to visit the old girl.
As one of them said to me after a tour and was rubbing his head, “I deserve that, she got me home safely all those times and I’m proud to have this bump from her” !!
Another chap said, ” at age 22 with 6 layers of clothing, movement was difficult. Now at age 85 it’s just moving that’s difficult”
(But they both made it over the main spar)

Open cockpits, proceedures trainers, etc are a great idea, I really appreciate the open cockpit days at some US museums I have been to. Not all obviously can/should be open, but when done properly they are a great highlight. Pensacola has a whole flock of proceedures trainers, I liked the AV-8A the best, snug fit and playing with the nozzle lever was enlightening.

A funny in hindsight memory is me sitting in the B-52 nose section at the SAC museum (old location), with my hands wrapped around all 8 throttles and likely making whooshing sounds to myself and a 8 year old kid chides me from down the hatch “hey mister you done yet?!” well…no I really wasn’t but I sheepishly vacated the pilots chair….

Just make sure the pins are fitted safe for servicing and the seat is certified free from explosives…………

We have a Canberra B.2 cockpit and a JP procedures trainer at YAM kept solely for the purpose of allowing visitors to sit in.
And the Victor and Nimrod crews can sometimes be susceptible to bribery of the folding donation kind in exchange for a look on board…!

Cosford open evening allow it in some aircraft. Took photos of the wife in the F 111, saro, Belfast, Herc etc