Originally Posted by
LarryJ
The pilots should arrive at the aircraft, in most cases, between 60 and 40 minutes prior to departure. Try to be at the gate before they are and ask them for cockpit tours before they board. If you miss then, just ask the flight attendant at the aircraft door when you board.
Or ask a gate agent/supervisor politely and discreetly... EWR agents can be hit or miss but particularly in the clubs magic can be made to happen with surprising regularity. Tweeting [MENTION=1407]UNITED[/MENTION] may also help with a surprise (or it may go into a void). One things that never ceases to amaze me are the things that can be had for the taking simply by politely inquiring (I wound up in Dubai once on the basis of an off-hand comment
)
Originally Posted by
ZenFlyer
I don't know if there is anyplace in or near EWR that lends itself to this, but it might be interesting to make a point of spending some time prior to the flight watching other planes landing and taking off, tarmac operations etc. to give them a sense of the scale of airport and airplane operations. We're spoiled for choice in that regard at my home airport (DCA), both from inside the terminal but also in a great little park nearby the airport where you can watch takeoffs and landings at close range.
Even without the planes -- just the scale of the operation -- you have thousands of people arriving from hundreds of points and going on to hundreds of other points... Behind the scenes your bag gets mixed with thousands of other bags but most of the time manages to make it to the same place as you do. Meeting my dad at the airport when I was 3-4(ish) and just being in awe of the systematic complexity and interdependence is a huge part of the reason I still love aviation so much.
At EWR some activities can be observed landside from the AirTrain or airside from the A-C connector bus.