Flight Deck Visits

There’s a lot to be said for travelling CrabAir then. I got 2 hours in the captain’s seat of a Tri-Star on the way to the Falkland Islands. He said he was going to check on the sheep/self loading freight (officially RAF Support Command don’t carry passengers)

As long as the plane is on the ground then normally it is ok, we get flight deck visit requests on a weekly basis and we’re always very happy to accommodate where necessary, the best one was a group of French hotties coming over for their hen night, suffice to say they wanted to have their photos taken sat on the f/o’s lap 😀

That must have been terrible Deano…:D

(got any pictures?) 😉

Though personally I don’t think it is a good idea now to take people onto the flightdeck, especially a group of them. If I was a pilot I would not allow anyone on.

I’m glad you’re not a pilot, then.

Paul

I have had two flight deck visits, both on the 744 and both Air New Zealand. The first time I was on my own and it was ace, the second time I was taken up with a group of people who weren’t really interested in the goings on and it was a waste of time.

I always fancied seeing the A320 flightdeck but when I flew on them it was always kids who were taken up to the front so I never bothered to ask as I did not want to go with a group of kids.

Though personally I don’t think it is a good idea now to take people onto the flightdeck, especially a group of them. If I was a pilot I would not allow anyone on.

So how many of you still bother?

I do ask when I can be bothered, but dont make a point of asking every single time I fly.

On my last flight, I went up to see the captain of my Hawaiian Airlines HNL-LAX flight, and asked him if I could take a photo of the flight deck, and he joyfully said “Sure, take as many as you like!”…so here it is:

Qantas has banned them!!

Thanks for that interesting reply Deano. Could you tell me what proportion of visits are made by minors and how many are adults. I was under the impression that the vast majority were kids but by the sounds of it as many adults do it!

Regards

AJ

As long as the plane is on the ground then normally it is ok, we get flight deck visit requests on a weekly basis and we’re always very happy to accommodate where necessary, the best one was a group of French hotties coming over for their hen night, suffice to say they wanted to have their photos taken sat on the f/o’s lap 😀

The only way you can see the flight deck now with MyTravel is as posted above is if that the engines are shut down,the doors are open and you have arrived at destination.Not allowed before departure or during the cruise.Sad but it has to be enforced.:mad:

no

i asked on a flight from Amsterdam to teesside on a fokker 100 klm flight and they said no in light of the terrorist attacks in america but i understood and they left the cockpit door open for me to have a look wich i thought was good of them because of the curcumstances

aye, you can stop showing off, now… :p

my list is…

*begin list*
G-AXJK (British Airways BAC 1-11-501EX)
*end list*

policies vary depending on registation countries – last year BY was a real No No – they wouldn’t even give me a copy of the flight plan, ABD on the otherhand throughout my work exp would let young children up front, as long as they wererecommended by the Purser. On the way to GCTS we had four or five kids under the age of about 10 up front – its great to see their faces! – wonder what i was like first time!

Hows about asking what cockpits we’ve all visited?

My List includes:-
B732 (x2)
A320
B752 (x2)
B741 (X4 J/S)
DC10

and then several others on the ground icl Concorde!!

Suddenly I feel the urge to put on my “Airplane” dvd. The scene with the kid visiting the flight deck is a classic !:D

Yes indeed…… i remember on my flight deck visit on Ansett B743 long back i saw the 1st officer playing some sort of game.

All the times I’ve ask, except for once because it was a Denish crew on a Dutch plane, it was granted, the last time it was in 2001 before september 11th so don’ t know if they would alowe it, but again just ask, most pilots like it, because it is sheer bordome up their at cruising alt.

regards,

jw

I’m afraid to say that yes there is a blanket ban on flightdeck entry from before engine start to after engine shutdown. It’s a sad sad world.

I don’t think there’s been a official policy enforced banning cockpit visits ? I suspect most airlines will have their own policy on this and that generally speaking such visits would be discouraged.

It’s a shame really, as I would have liked to have made a visit, never been in one at all. The closest I got was whilst waiting to use the forward toilets on a DC-10 and one of the crew popped out for a spell giving a brief view of the flight deck.

Just ask I would say, worst thing that could happen is that they say no.

regards,
jw

I not really sure. My last visit to a flight deck was back in 2000 on an AIH A320.

Looking at some of the pictures of planepictures and airliners.net, it looks as if some people have managed to get in them, and have been given the permission to take photos, but then again, these people may be airline staff?