Is a child allowed in the cockpit while the plane is in flight?
 

Took Aeromexico flight #670 from MEX-SEA on Sunday night. There was a 4-5 year old child who was in and out of the cockpit the entire flight.( pilot's daughter?) Made me a bit nervous. What happens if she stumbled and hit a button or something?

I am tired of these April Fool's jokes. No one would really believe that someone is worried about hitting a button at 36,000 feet.

Not a joke...perhaps I should have posted this tomorrow.

Regardless if I have a fear of flying and some child pushing a wrong button....my question still stands...Is a child allowed in the cockpit during flight of a commercial jet with some 120 passengers aboard?

As long as the child isn't allowed to fly the plane: http://aviation-safety.net/database/...?id=19940323-0

What if she hit the button that puts it in Park?

"Tommy, do you like Gladiator movies?" :)

No, a child, or any other non-crew (except official business authorized, such as say an FAA inspector) should be on the flight deck during flight. I believe a foreign carrier has to abide by all U.S. regs when flying to a U.S. destination as well.

The odds of a kid falling into a "button" or something to that effect are almost nil. I have given many a cockpit tour during flight (in biz jets) and it never bothered me. Only one pilot is "flying" at a time so the other is free to assist as needed, even to show folks around.

The practice noted by the OP is prohibited by the FAA for commercial airlines IIRC. Not sure about Mexico.

I do find it curious that this would happen in North America though.

Ciao,
FH

Perhaps I exaggerated my fear of flying by making the "stumbling into a button" comment....it still was unsettling to have the cockpit opened and closed numerous times during flight to acommodate a restless child.

This thread reminded me of an episode of National Geographic's Air Emergency. In 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed because the pilot's 15 year old son unknowingly activated an unusual feature of the Airbus A310's autopilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593

Perhaps when in US airspace. Pre the current US madness, children and adults could visit the flight deck while the aircraft was in flight. In sensible countries this is still possible.

Flying a plane is not stressful nor particularly demanding. I'd be much more worried if the pilot was chatting on a cellphone.

Then he'd probably get pulled over by an alert state trooper enforcing the cell phone ban. :D

Not true - I've ridden jumpseat and made flight deck visits on foreign airlines while on the way to, from and in US airspace....and I'm not the only FTer with similar experience.

I think the OP's concerns are overwrought. If the different procedures and experiences found on foreign airlines are unsettling, stick to flying US carriers.

If I recall correctly, Mexico is in North America.

In the past five years, I have been in the cockpit of aircraft while landing at IAH, ORD and JFK. The view of the Chicago skyline when flying in from the east is one of the most elegant sights (IMO). New York is lovely too, but obviously not the same without the Twin Towers. The view of Kingwood and Humble, TX, not so great.

My children have been allowed to visit the cockpit while over US airspace. If the captain of the ship knows their visitors and trusts them, I don't think it's a problem. Besides, who the hell is the US to mandate who sits in the cockpit of a foreign registered aircraft anyway?