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My pre-9/11 ride in the Qantas 747 cockpit

My pre-9/11 ride in the Qantas 747 cockpit

Old Jul 21st, 2004, 10:07 AM
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My pre-9/11 ride in the Qantas 747 cockpit

I'd heard for years that Qantas would let passengers visit the cockpit during the flight, and finally achieved my dream on a Qantas flight to Australia in 2000. ( I want to sit up there on every flight so I can keep an eye on the gauges and generally tell them how to fly the thing--I'm not a control freak!)
The flight attendant escorted me up to the flight deck of the 747 and seated me in a jumpseat (covered with sheepskin) behind the captain and the first officer. The first thing they pointed out to me was the con trail we were flying over. Then they made some comment about the number of con trails polluting the air. I didn't know how to answer that one, given that we were all contributing to that pollution even as we spoke. But it was great to finally see out of the front windows of the 747 and see all the gauges and so on. The relief crew were sleeping elsewhere behind a curtain--the captain told me that since this was a 14-hour flight, they had two flight crews. When I told them my American husband would never believe that Qantas let passengers up in the cockpit, the captain said, "We like to make people feel comfortable about flying." I've always felt comfortable about flying with Qantas--they've been flying since 1928 and never had a fatality--maybe never even an accident.
Alas, since 9/11 they don't let passengers into the cockpit anymore--one more thing we have to thank the terrorists for! Glad I did it while I could, though.
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 10:24 AM
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The flight I had with Qantas to Oz in 2000 was one of the most physically uncomfortable ones I've ever had to endure (except for the first leg to Hawaii when I was upgraded). Guess I should have asked to sit in the cockpit instead of their cramped seats.
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 10:32 AM
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A number of years ago I was on an Aerolineas Argentinas flight from Buenos Aires to San Martin de los Andes. After we leveled off the 1st Officer came back through the 737 chatting with everyone and welcoming visitors to Argentina, etc. When he went back to the cockpit he left the door open, and before long every kid on the plane was up in the cockpit with them. After an hour or so of that, they all left and I wandered up, got invited in to sit on the jumpseat, and spent the next half hour talking with the pilots as we came up on the snow-capped Andes. That still ranks as my most memorable flight after what must be by now a couple of million miles in the air.
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 10:53 AM
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I flew an old 747 to Europe and climbed up the spiral staircase to my seat which was right in front of the cockpit door.

The pilot left the doors open alot of the time and when I stood up to stretch, one of them invited me inside. I stood in the door behind the pilots and almost fainted, really. It was night and through the large windows all I could see was the moon in front of us and some twinkling city lights far below. It was like I was flying through space and I decided that I liked the little windows at my seat alot better with their tunnel vision.

The pilots thought it was funny though.
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 11:17 AM
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We travelled a fair bit when I was a kid and it was quite common for the kids to go into the cockpits.

But when I met my husband he'd never flown and so had missed that experience.

On our honeymoon in 94 I asked a stewardess if he could go and visit and she came back later and invited us both to do so.

Well we ended up in there for hours as the pilots were a little bored and seemed to enjoy the company.

I LOVED the view from the cockpit windows...

We did get a little alarmed at one point. The co-pilot was drawing some stuff and working some figures out on paper. We asked what he was doing. He explained that the reason we'd been late to take off was because the proportion of adults to children on our flight was so unusually high that, even enforcing the luggage limits, they were much heavier than usual and had had to get permission from the Civil Aviation Authority to make the flight. So during the flight he was keeping an eye on fuel and ensuring they had enough to get across the Atlantic - ie that usage was as they expected. We did stop in Florida to get extra fuel but I can't recall anymore whether that was the norm or whether that flight usually went directly to Jamaica.

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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 11:44 AM
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I've had two cockpit experiences, so to speak, the first when I was three years old and on my very first flight (United) from SFO to LAX

The pilots invited me come into the cockpit and gave me United wings. I also remember sort of running up and down the aisle (this was 1956) and being indulged by the stewardesses and other passengers - I don't think little kids flew that much back then.

In 1978, my best friend and I flew First Class from SFO to Honolulu on a United DC-10 with a stop in Hilo.

After letting the passengers off in Hilo, the co-pilot asked me if I wanted "to go for a little ride" and asked me into the cockpit where I sat in the jumpseat as we taxied down the runway for takeoff. When we landed in Honolulu, the co-pilot came back to our seats and gave us a magnum of champagne because, as he put it, "I know you girls will have fun partying in the islands."

Both trips gave me fond memories of flying United!
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 12:00 PM
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Taggie--
Was that Qantas flight on a 747-400?
That's what they flew LA-Sydney the last time I went, in 2002, and I thought the space in coach wasn't bad. On the other hand, I just flew a Lufthansa 747-400 back from Vienna, and the seats were inhumanly cramped--and I'm average size. The person next to me was tall and had to practically sit sideways to fit her legs behind the seat in front. (I learned on a visit to the Boeing plant in Washington State that it's the individual airlines, not Boeing, that dictate the seating arrangements on the planes they buy--but I guess everyone knows that.)
I was surprised to hear some of the other stories about people riding in cockpits as I thought it was against FAA regulations--or did these things happen before FAA regs. came into effect? Or were they just ignoring the regs?
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 12:28 PM
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I had the pleasure of flying in the cockpit of a Regional Air(BA) 727 from NBO to JNB last Feb. Met the pilot and drank with him and a beautiful young female captain on the inbound to NBO in the business class. About a week later the same guy was in the cockpit on the outbound and I sat there for most of the flight. We did not drink as much this time . Also the female captain was not on this flight , still a great experience.
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 12:56 PM
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pears43: In my case the flight was an Argentinean domestic flight, so not subject to the FAA. In fact, I even mentioned that it wasn't possible to do this in the States and the pilot just remarked that Yankees are too uptight. Perhaps so at the time, but that was a long time ago and in a different world.
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 01:07 PM
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What a great story pears! All of these stories are great.
It is sad to think that the pilot will not let any more small children come up and see the cockpit and give them their little wings pins. That is what my children got, many years ago. I wonder how many children decided to learn to fly after such an experience.
Thanks for posting this~
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 01:15 PM
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1982, on SQ from SIN-DUB-LHR. My sister and I got invited to visit the cockpit of the 747-200 while we were over Europe. I was 11, and my sister (another frequent poster to this board) 9. The captain joked that we were going to arrive in Amsterdam soon, and I told him no, we were supposed to go to London. [LHR was fogged in that day, and we circled for about an hour before finally touching down in basically zero visibility.]

More recently, I've flown Air Canada's regional Beech 1900D a few times. They've always left the cockpit door open (or there might not have a door) even for flights to the US, after 9/11. One time, I had seat 1A, and I could observe the first officer and her instrumentation throughout the flight. On all these planes, you can look out the cockpit windshield and see your runway during the approach, from basically any seat.
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 01:49 PM
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In July 2001, I flew from London Heathrow to Seatac via British Airways. I was seated upstairs, in an area they call the "garden" I think, and it was just 35 passengers and a steward. We were right behind the cockpit. Two flight attendants came up the stairs to watch a Concorde take off from the Heathrow runway before we departed. During the flight, I got up to stretch my legs, and stood by the cupboard door. I realized that the only thing between me and the cockpit was a curtain. I could look over the curtain to see the two pilots and the navigator in their seats, as we moved forward into the clouds. !!! How sad to think that will never happen again. 9/11 happened just two months after I returned home.
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 02:56 PM
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About 7-8 years ago, DH and I were flying cross-country on United. About halfway through the flight, a flight attendant asked if there was a doctor on board. DH isn't usually one to jump up and volunteer for such tasks, but since there was no immediate response, he pushed the call button. He was quickly whisked away. He was gone for a LONG time--probably an hour or so. Of course, I'm having visions of him doing CPR or crude emergency surgery. When he finally came back he was holding a bottle of champagne and a fistful of flight coupons. Turns out the sick guy was just dehydrated and DH had been spending all that time chatting with the pilots in the cockpit and apparently flirting with the flight attendants!!!
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Old Jul 21st, 2004, 04:08 PM
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Just before my 30th birthday, my husband won a lottery through his work (he worked for an airline at that time) to fly a brand new plane (I believe it was a 757) from Honolulu to Guam (where we were living at the time.) The flight was actually on my birthday, and my husband was allowed to bring me along for the flight. So, we flew to Hono, spent a few days in Mauii, then flew back to Hono for our flight.

The new plane actually had the "new car" smell! The best part was sitting with my husband in the cockpit for part of the flight and for the descent into Guam. The pilot circled the entire island, for our pleasure (or maybe his own!), and the view was so amazing from the cockpit compared to a small oval side window. It was a truly fabulous experience -- but of course this was pre 9/11...
 
Old Jul 21st, 2004, 07:32 PM
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taggie,

I believe Qantas just finished re-outfitting the last of their long haul 747s last year. We flew them in December. I generally like space and Qantas isn't as roomy as some of the others (like Air New Zealand), but it's not bad at all now. The economy seats themselves were very comfy - and this coming from someone who usually can't get comfortable on a plane. No idea about the cockpit seating though!
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Old Jul 22nd, 2004, 03:34 AM
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Well, I did more than just be in the cockpit while flying... I was there during take-off and landing !!!

It was like this. In May 92 I, aged 13 then) was flying Iberia with my parents from Brussels to Seville, making a stop in-between in Bilbao. Since I was about the only kid on the plane, they let me have a look in the cockpit, and the pilots even suggested I could sit there for the landing in Bilbao and taking-off again. I had only had about half a year of English classes back then, but was chatting away with those pilots like I'd never done anything else in my life
The landing thing was really scary though! Bilbao is a small airport with a short landing track and I was absolutely convinced we were going to end up in the nets which were approaching really fast... everything turned out perfect of course, but it was an experience never to forget!
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Old Jul 22nd, 2004, 05:35 AM
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Hi all,

Many years ago, when I was in the AFROTC, a group of us were taken upp in a DC-3.

I was invited to take the copilot seat and fly the plane.

After about 10 min of my getting used to the controls, the pilot directed me to make a 90 degree turn.

"Keep the nose up", he cautioned.

I made the turn, doing my best to keep the nose up.

As I leveled off, right on course, he suggested I look at the altimeter.

I had dropped 5000 feet.

When I went back to the cabin, all of the other cadets had used their airsickness bags.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2004, 07:19 AM
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Pre 9/11, we were on a daytime KLM flight from Amsterdam to Arusha in Business. About half way there, over Sudan, we saw a long streak in the desert, and asked the stewardess if that was the Nile. She asked the captain, and indeed it was. He then invited us into the cockpit, and was glad to do so, as he and the co-pilot were so bored spending 4 hours looking at sand.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2004, 07:54 AM
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In May 2002 we flew from Paris to Guadeloupe in the Carribeans with our niece.

The cockpit door remained open throughout the flight (except for take-off and landing).

During this 8 and a half hour flight, our 6 year old niece decided (on her own) to go and visit the cockpit where she was welcomed by the crew and treated as a princess! Time for us to run after her and take her back, there she was. And the stewards laughed about it, saying "you can go on! No problem !).

I know she was a lovely 6 year old girl... but still...
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Old Jul 26th, 2004, 04:43 PM
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ttt
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