PresRDC

Back in the pre 9/11 days, whenever I was flying a non-U.S. airline, I always requested to visit the flight deck in flight. Usually, my request was granted.

I have been in the following airliner flight decks in flight:

1. British Airways DC-10 (JFK-LGW) in June 1993.

2. British Airways 737-200 (LGW-GVA) in June 1993.

3. British Airways 747-200 (LHR-JFK) in July 1993 -- interesting side note, the captain on this flight was none other than Stanley Stewart, the author of Emergency, Crisis in the Cockpitt; Flying the Big Jets; and From the Flightdeck I: LHR-ORD.

4. Alitalia MD-11 (JFK-FCO) in June 1997.

5. Alitalia 767-300ER (MXP-JFK) in July 1997.

6. Virgin Altantic A340-300 (ORD-LHR) in August 2000 -- got to ride in the jumpseat for landing into LHR -- which was one of the highlights of my life.

7. Virgin Atlantic A340-300 (LHR-ORD) in August 2000 -- another jumpseat landing into ORD -- life couldn't get much better at that point.

8. British Airways 767-300ER (LGW-BWI) in November 2000.

9. Icelandair 757-200 (KEF-JFK) in December 2000.

10. Virgin Atlantic 747-200 (JFK-LHR) in January 2001.

11. Swissair MD-11 (ZRH-HKG) in March 2001.

12. Cathay Pacific A340-300 (HKG-ZRH) in March 2001.

13. Air France 747-400 (CDG-JFK) in June 2001 -- my final visit, had I known what was coming in September, I would have savored the experience even more.

roesner

I once was able to ride the last 45 minutes until landing in the cockpit of a 747 on the approach into SFO.
The weather was perfect; the wine country, Point Reyes, San Francisco, The Bay were clearly visible and bathed in sun.
Cabin crew members were coming up to the flight deck to enjoy the view and I was able to point out some landmarks and name the cities.
Landing was amazing. Just like parking a car. At no point could I imagine that there were hundreds of feet of airplane "behind" me.
A truly fascinating experience.

quilly

A great topic, esp. post 9/11

My two expeiences both in the jumpseat on approach to LHR......

First was once when I was returning to LHR from Croatia. I had spent a rotation in Sarajevo in the 90's. I was working as a cameraman at the time and asked the FA if it were possible to shoot the approach and landing at LHR. Imagine my surprise when I was invited up to the cockpit to record the arrival at LHR. The flight was non-smoking but the pilots were both in their mid 50's and smoking like troopers. I smoked at the time and they allowed me to have a quick smoke. I had put the camera down and befpre you knew it we were cleared for final approach. Didn't bother shooting and enjoyed the view.

The second was on a Royal Brunei flight from DXB. I was about the only pax in J class and early into the flight had gone up to the cockpit to chat about changing careers - I was interested in taking up flying professionally and wanted some advice from the crew. This is where I learned about the pprune website - which eventually led me here to flyertalk. I guess I have those two Aussies pilots to thank for this post!

I went back to my seat still thinking if I should give up my career to follow another in the clouds. As we were coming in for approach the lead FA came to me and requested my presence in the cockpit. Bingo - I was asked to stay in the jump seat for approach over London as the sun peeped up over the horizion and we joined the queue of early morning long hauls widebodies - the mixture of accents and call signs crackling on my headphones - waiting to land at Heathrow. Priceless, and surely never to be repeated. Though I wouldn't mind

UAX@SFO

I was one of those kids! I got to sit in the jumpseat of a 757 from BCN-HEL (I was excited when it was changed out from the expected MD-80). We were flying out over Denmark into the North Sea. It was very cool - a view not normally seen

Kai

SNA_Flyer

My memorable cockpit visit was on a Qantas 747-400 LAX-SYD in 1999. The sun was setting over the Pacific - one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. I chatted with the pilots for about an hour - the F/A who brought be up there had to tear me away from the pilots (they said they get pretty bored up there sometimes and it's just nice to have someone to talk to!).

Too bad this is no more - thanks you wacko muslim fundamentalist terrorists...

toro y torero

smoking in the cockpit.. was it aeroflot??

ak333

I'll add one of my experiences here as well. Pre 9/11 I used to visit cockpits on non-US carriers as often as possible, but only one time was I able to sit up front for a landing. It was on October 14, 1999, flying on a CX A330 (hence the 333 in my user name) registered B-HLJ. I wrote up a trip report for it for my friends, and since this is the right place - if no one minds I'll add it here:

____________________________________

Although Cathay is a Hong Kong airline, they have always hired their pilots from the U.K., Canada, or Australia. My flight from Singapore to Hong Kong was on an Airbus A330-300.

After breakfast, I noticed that the pilots left the cockpit door open. Since I wasn't flying a U.S. airline, I poked my head in the cockpit and said hi. Both the Captain and the First Officer were Australian, and both liked to talk. The Captain had me sit in the jump seat, and he started telling me about the 330. Since I live in California, the First Officer was asking me what the best way to get to Santa Barbara from SFO is, and so on. I've now been in the cockpit observing for close to two hours and I've seen us diverge from course to go around thunder storms, see a fuel transfer (to keep the aircraft in trim), hear about how glad the pilots are that Vietnam finally has good radar (we were flying over the coast of Vietnam when we had to get around the thunderstorm), and I am even shown the weather and gate report when it came off the ACARS computer. I figure it's about time to leave so they can plan their landing and the Captain then says to me, "Would you like to stay for landing?"

I very calmly (without jumping up and down for joy) say, "sure," and strap myself in for a very interesting experience. The Captain has me put on a headset to listen to ATC (I was listening through out my cockpit stay through the overhead speaker, but both crew members put their headset on for landing), and there turns out to be quite a bit of traffic around us-right in front of us is a Canadian 747-400 from
Bangkok, and behind us a China Eastern 757. This turns out to be the First Officer's landing, and he goes over the waypoints he is going to use for landing, discusses what he will do in case of flap failure, what altitude (4500') and route to fly a missed approach, and where he will
go for an alternate in case HKG closes (Macau).

The entire time he is flying the approach all he is doing is programming the computer and auto pilot-neither he or the captain actually touch the controls until about 2 minutes out. As we are descending, the Captain points out Hong Kong Island which is to my right, and we start making all of the turns required to line up with Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok's runway 7 left. The First Officer called for flaps and that was the first time a non-computerized event happened since take off. Flaps were
extended to 10 degrees, and then the call came for "gear down." The Captain moved the lever, and it seemed to take a while to get all 3 landing gear lights to show green-the last being the front that I could
really hear locking into place. Flaps were then extended to 20 degrees and then the First Officer said, "I have control." At this point we were about a mile out, and I could see the Canadian 747 leaving the runway ahead of us. The A330 has a joystick instead of the traditional column
and the First Officer moved the joystick a couple of times to line us up dead center on the runway as we got hit by a couple of wind gusts. The A330 also has an automated height call-out so at 400' a computer voice
comes on and says "400." Then the voice keeps going and says "minimum" as we are flying over the runway threshold, and a couple of seconds later the voice says "retard, retard, retard," and the First Officer pulled the throttles back and we touched down. The Captain put on
reverse thrust (the spoilers were set automatically as the crew went through their before landing check-list), and we slowed down and eventually taxied off the runway at about 40 mph.

Even the taxi to the gate was interesting, as we had to taxi around various areas of the airport, and when we taxied to the gate itself there was an automated system to show the pilots how many feet to go
instead of a person marshalling them into the gate. The flight crew then had to do a lot of paper work including noting the fact that we arrived at the gate 3 minutes late-due to the rerouting around the thunderstorms. After all the passengers were off, the cockpit door re-opened (I never saw the flight attendants close it actually) and even though I ended up being the last person off the plane, I was probably the happiest.

______________________________________

I would love a chance to do this again, but I'm afraid that won't happen. Another interesting thing about this flight - it was the flight that made me AA PLT for the first time, and I haven't looked back since.

JimAtTheBeach

Had a similar experience on SQ in 10/98, got to ride in the cockpit for landing in SIN on a 747-400. Unbelievable experience. Then had the same wish granted by the crew of a CX flight in 8/01, but got to stay in the cockpit of the A340 for both takeoff from HKG and landing in BKK. Quite a memorable event that I'm sure will not likely happen again for me in this lifetime!

teeman

Great stories here... anyone landed at the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong in the cockpit? must've been amazing...

BeenThere

I am a former aircraft dispatcher for a defunct airline so jumpseats weren't a big deal until I stopped getting the opportunity. Several years after my last jumpseat ride, (pre 9/11) I was on a Trans-Atlantic flight to JFK on a European flag carrier when the Captain extended an invitation to visit the cockpit of this brand new A340 (I was actually doing some business with the carrier and my contact asked the Captain to make the offer). I went in as we crossed into Canadian airspace and, by the time we finished chatting, we were decending for JFK. The arrival route took us down the Hudson River, between New Jersey and Manhattan at what seemed only a few thousand feet, providing the best view of The Island you could imagine. I was told this approach was so unusual that the crew had never seen this view. Several flight attendants crowded the cockpit for the view. I only wish I had a camera for the great scenery.

[This message has been edited by BeenThere (edited Dec 12, 2003).]

l etoile

Unfortunately, the smoking part is not much of a clue. I've been on flights where my US crew smoked in the cockpit. It's not against FAA regs.

I too have been fortunate enough to fly in some cockpits on non-US carriers. I love the view. My husband, OTOH, the one who had - and may soon have again - much access to jumpseat flying complains about the heat, the sun, the uncomfortable seats. He has enjoyed some incredible views of the aurora borealis though.

knobs5

Wow. Great stories all! I always wanted to be in the cockpit but never had the chance, although once I got "kicked out of a cockpit." I was on a 747 flying first class, which was a new experience for me as the seats were on the upper deck right behind the cockpit, so I pretty much saw everything since they almost always had the door open(this was pre 9/11). First of all, we're flying and one pilot leaves the cockpit, then another, and then I thought I saw a third one leave. So I poked my head in the cockpit... it looked huge because it easily accomodated the 2 pilots and the navigator. I'm staring at all the buttons and lights like a little child, mesmerized. No joke - no one is in there. Then one pilot comes back and is obviously angry that I'm standing inside the doorway staring at everything, and I ask if it is a requirement to have at least someone at the controls (I appreciate the fact that planes generally fly themselves, but also assume there's lots of alarms which would require someone to be present to actually respond to). So the guy tells me "at no time was this cockpit vacant." Um, ok. As I minded my business back in first class, when I had occassion to get up and use the lavatory near the cockpit, I was quite amused that they completely covered the windshield with newspapers (they were reading them) and what seemed like a blanket, in order to keep the daylight out. I just thought it funny, and again, I know the autopilots are doing the flying, but figured it would be nice to know if, um, some object was in front of the plane.

As much as I would love to be in the cockpit, as long as I'm a passenger I'm happy that the door is now closed, as I don't want to know what's going on in there

semjeito

Great topic near and dear to my heart.

I worked for a very large aircraft manufacturer in a sales and marketing capacity until the mid-90's and was invited several times to visit the flight deck when the crew found out who I was. Those were the days....

However, the highlight was on 2 separate sales tours of the brand new B777 demo aircraft where I got to spend an awful lot of time in the flight deck.

The single highlight was a demo flight we made out of Rio de Janeiro (GIG) where we followed the coastline in the Bay after takeoff then turned right and went down the beaches of Rio at very low altitude. For those of you who know Rio, you can imagine what an incredible experience this was.

Though I doubt I'll ever be able to do it, someday I would like to be in the flight deck when either a VARIG B737-300 or a TAM A319 is making the alternate approach to SDU (Santos-Dumont Airport in Rio - downtown) where the aircraft skirts right by Corcovado (Christ Statue is staring right at you) then makes a sharp left turn with full flaps ang gear down inside the Bay (they have to do this to miss Sugarloaf mountain) and barely above the buildings to line up with SDU's 4500 ft. water to water runway with not much time to line up for basically a carrier landing. Reminescent of Kai-Tak ....

JetCity

Indeed, being in the airplane biz used to have its perks.

One time, into CUN, I'm staring hard at the runway on short final thinking about how the atmosphere is creating an optical illusion that the runway centerline is crooked. Well, we touch down and ... sure enough ... the centerline bent right then left then right all the way down the runway ... a couple Coronas too many I suppose.

Ferry flight into AVP B737 late at night with low vis. Gear down and we're on final. Pilots start calling out 500, 400, 300, 200, then start screaming where's the runway ... watch out ... go around. I sh*t my pants ... then we broke through the clouds at ~1200 ft. They got me good.

727 ferry flight into CLL. Again at night. ~2500 ft preparing for final. Can't see the field or the runway and we're turning a little left .. then a little right ... everyone's looking around ... where's the runway! Had to call ATC to point us towards the field ... flew over the field and then came in for a landing ... big airplane for such a little airport.

737 over KS witnessed St. Elmo's fire. Really surreal watching the windshild turn into a lightshow. see pic at http://www.airliners.net/open.file/072756/M/

kenm

Night Landing In Old Hong Kong

The month before the old airport in HKG closed I was flying on a CX 747 from Sydney - upper deck - and talking about how the first time I flew into HKG it was on a CX 707 25 years before. One thing led to another and I was invited to sit in the jump seat behind the Captain for the landing. I went up after the start of the decent (we were at about 30,000 feet) and went through the process of strapping in (5 point seat belt) and going through a "revised" safety instruction - the first one I had paid attention to in many years.

There was a heavy cloud cover, but the glow form the lights of HKG was fantastic. Going through the clouds we were able to see the new airport, the new bridge that had been built and then Hong Kong & Kowloon. The Captain took control at about 6,000 feet.

For those who have been up front, you know of the perception that you are sitting still and the world is drifting by you. This is how it felt in the 747, until the Captain started the famous turn. At that time the perception was that we were hauling @ss - and I could not see the airport! The other surprise to me was how far the nose was pointed down. On previous flights (sitting in the back) I had only noticed the turn - not the decent. This time I noticed.

The turn/decent up front is beyond belief - especially at night. Finally the copilot called out 300 feet and I was finally able to see the runway. The automatic system called out 60, 30 and then 10 feet before touch down, which has the best landing I have ever experienced.

I have also sat in the jump seat on an QX departure from SYD - boring compared to the landing - and loved the days when QF allowed people up front. The best two were when a group of young teenagers from China were able to go up front - they couldn't believe it - and the absolute best was when a young girl of about 7 went up. I was able to see the copilot (a woman) pick her up and put her on her lap. After a minute the plane went gently off course and then back again - with a lot of supervision from the copilot the little girl was allowed to "drive" the plane! That was almost as good as my HGK landing.