BA cockpit visit policy?

[caelite]

I remember being a young kid (late 90s, pre-2001) and asking an attendant if i could see the cockpit. She came back after 5 minutes and I got took go up and take a peak. Pilots where really nice about it too lol showed all the controls. Not sure which airline this was though. Tried again on a flight to florida in 2006 (i'm sure this was BA) to get my little brother to have a peak but we where told due to safety issues they where not aloud to leave the cockpit door unlocked inflight.

Last year i flew a small craft by Nordavia in Russia. They flew the whole 4 hour flight with the cockpit door open. The pilots even stroled through the cabin at one point.

[Elderly]

onyx39 said:

, we appeared to be motionless.
Pilot assured me that we were doing about 500 mph.

Combine the no sense of speed with the no sense of scale of how large or far away a cloud is ........
........... until the last few seconds before you enter it; it's VERY strange.

[ChemicalChaos]

OP - if you're anywhere near Liverpool, come visit Speke Aerodrome on a Saturday and you'll be able to get a tour round a Jetstream with a glass cockpit, and an HS748 with a traditional cockpit

[mrloudly]

Several pilot buddies of mine have suggested the flight deck visit ban (in-flight) is a bad thing. "It used to keep us awake on long sectors, I met some really interesting people, and good looking blondes" Their words, not mine

[Vee8man]

Back around '97 when flying into Bahrain with KLM, I cautiously asked if my 10 year old son could 'possibly go visit the pilots and say hello'. This worked a treat and he came back saying how awesome it was whilst remembering to thank the Air Hostess.....he talked about nothing much else for the rest of the flight....which must have been noticed as she returned to us toward the end of the journey and asked if we would both like to come up to the cabin for the landing. Now that WAS awesome !

[nightcruiser]

One of the negatives of being fairly young I suppose

[bennyboydurham]

As I understand it there are plenty of airlines that will allow you flight deck access during flight and the jumpseat for takeoff and landing. SAS, Norwegian and Wilderoe all obliged a young chap I used to employ.

[Chuck328]

bennyboydurham said:

As I understand it there are plenty of airlines that will allow you flight deck access during flight and the jumpseat for takeoff and landing. SAS, Norwegian and Wilderoe all obliged a young chap I used to employ.

Correct.

And frustrating.

If you are a Scandinavian carrier in UK airspace it's a no no to have people on the jump seat. As soon as they are outside UK airspace, all ok.

[GEARJAMMER]

Very interesting reading all this, but on the flip side quite sad.

Its a shame the rule book generally doesn't allow cockpit visits, it deprives the kids (and some adults) of an experience. Im a railway enthusiast and cab rides on locomotives during BR days were not uncommon but today is very much banned, same as my day job as a truck driver, having a passenger was no problem but today its very much frowned upon, some sites (Southampton Container Port for example) won't even let a truck on site with a passenger unless a pass has been issued.

Its a shame because having a cockpit visit or cab ride in a truck or railway locomotive is quite often what gives a kid that insentive to take that mode of transport up as a hobby or even a career.