PAX in coughpits ? Truth or fiction?

[notmensa]

Only once - flying on the domestic leg of an international flight between BNE and ADL in 1998. We'd had a 3 hr wait on the tarmac in BNE because of an engine problem (yes, we were kept on the plane) and at one point the announced the names of the flight crew. I recognised the first officer's so asked the flight attendant to pass on a message. I got invited to sit in the coughpit during the descent into ADL.

 

[jaffa]

In 98 i had purchased my first QF F RTW ticket for my "big trip".

About a month out from leaving l recieve a phone call from QF offering me an upgrade for my 744 BA leg NY-LON to the BA Concorde same day for $400AUD.

Of course l jumped at the chance and was super excited.

Well l did the whole who-har thing booked the Concorde Limo transfer with BA to JFK. Whisked into the Concorde private entrance and straight through to the private lounge. Heaps of one on one treatment all the way, l was in heaven:shock:

On checking in was told there were only 11 pasengers on the flight, which really suprised me and was quite taken aback when Niomi Cambell (the model) was throwing a real tis about something or other and had the BA lounge dragons trying to settle her down.

We boarded and took off and l was revelling in the whole experience.
About 10 mins after takeoff the CSM informed me the Captain had invited me to the coughpit if l would like pop up and take a look.

Well of course l couldn't get there quick enough.

I was pretty suprised at how small it was. A crew of 3, Capt, Ist Off and Engineer.
Was offered the jump seat (behind the Capt's) which l accepted and was introduced. The CSM took a photo, of the 4 of us (not from my camera).
This was the Engineers final flight before retirement, so there was a lot of reminising of past flights and world experiences ect. They really made me feel part of the team. In fact l told them that no-one would ever believe that this had happened to me.
I was also amazed that the 1st Officer (a woman) was Concordes only female pilot.
It was actually her who had sent the invitaion.
She told me that 2 days previously she had just got engaged to a Aussie private charter pilot based in Melb.
When she seen an Aussie on the manifest she said she just had to invite me up as they don't get to many Australians onboard. Over the course of the flight they went through just about everything on how the plane operates, they had my mind in overdrive.

I stayed with them the whole flight. Just before landing l made my sincere thanks and appreciation and began to get ready to head back to my seat, when they insisted l stay for landing at Heathrow.

I did, and to this day it has been the most amazing landing of any flight l have ever taken.
They offered me earphones to listen, pointed out all the photograhers flashlights poping (along the fenceline) who they said were allways there in there 100's for Concordes takeoff's and landings regardless of weather. l was the last off the plane with the crew well after the other passengers had deplaned.
They all made me feel very special.

It was not until l got to my hotel in London that l realised I never had one glass of champaign or a single thing to eat, but l did not feel l had sacrificed anything.

This is the one flight that l will never forget.

About 2 months after l got home from the trip, an envelope arrived registered mail from QF. It was the photo of the 4 of us on the flight deck, with a short note from the 1st Officer. On the back of the photo they had all signed with their best wishes and the Captain had written " To whom it may concern Just in case you don't believe him, Jaffa really did land the concorde with us at Heathrow" followed by a smilley face with a Captains cap.

I still have that photo, framed, and it hangs proudly on my office wall, it is always the topic of conversation when people visit and it always makes me smile when l look at it.

I have done some amazing things in my life, run for Federal and State Parliment, had huge success in business and been awarded some fantastic community honnors, but nothing will ever beat that day for me.

 

[LiamR]

It's that magic of flying, like you describe above that I miss. In the days of concorde (Which I was very young when it retired) there was definatley something special about flying.

Something which I miss.

Sounds like an amazing trip. If only crews were so accommodating these days.

 

[thewinchester]

jaffa, you are one really lucky bugger and I can't tell you just how much I envy you and that expeirence.

Concorde is one of the planes that I would have always loved to have flown on, but given my lack of financial self-sufficiency in my 20's that was just going to be a pipe dream.

The closest I've ever got to that graceful supersonic bird is a swathe of collectables I purchase now and again, from the metal bag tags, on-board folios and other ephemeria.

 

[strance]

around 96 used to travel weekly bne/rok on the old BA146-200's, always used to score 1a (to the constant horror of robert schwarten MLA who always thought he deserved this seat). i got to know the crew quite well over time, so if i ever saw a captain or fo sitting in jump seat and it was full up front, i would go up and ask if they wanted to swap with me in 1a. most of the time they would be stoked to swap jump seat with J seat and often took me up on on the offer. really was nice to have something different for what would usually be a boring 55 minute flight. i will never forget this one time, we were landing at night in rok and on our descent close to approach this alarm went off in the coughpit, and the capt and FO go "ahh cough instruments" and i had no idea what they were talking about. anyway after a bit of a flurry they tell me that they have to do an instruments only landing and wont have time to talk to me, and then they proceed to pull the shutters up over the pilots windscreen!! and then they landed the plane on instruments only. they said it happens randomly to them. i was a bit surprised but i guess they have to be able to land in bad weather where there is no visibility ....

 

[strance]

I still have that photo, framed, and it hangs proudly on my office wall, it is always the topic of conversation when people visit and it always makes me smile when l look at it.

i wish i had this story to tell ! how easy would the picture be to photoshop?

 

[samh004]

I still have that photo, framed, and it hangs proudly on my office wall, it is always the topic of conversation when people visit and it always makes me smile when l look at it.

Next time I’m in TSV I’ll be stopping off at your office to see it!!

 

[notzac]

I stayed with them the whole flight. Just before landing l made my sincere thanks and appreciation and began to get ready to head back to my seat, when they insisted l stay for landing at Heathrow.

Brilliant!! That would have been so much fun.

As a kid I used to be occasionally allowed to go up to the flight deck during the cruise portion of the flight .. I seem to remember that this was usually Ansett, but once on Thai Airways as well. Pretty cool seeing all the gizmos and gadgets that make the plane go!

One other, much more recent coughpit visit was after completing a LAX-MEL; I'd been chatting with the FO as he came through the cabin during the flight and he invited me to come visit after landing:

Very, very cool!

 

[jb747]

Did it exist in the past? Sure did.

I rarely did a flight into the old HK in which we didn't have a passenger or two in the coughpit. Most sectors had someone come to visit at some stage.

Post 911. Not a chance.

 

[jb747]

It still happens for airline staff when a) there are no seats left in any class and b) the ground staff check with the pilot and he/she says it's ok.The skipper gets asked if the seat's available. If so, the onload priority determines who gets it.

Not quite. The priority will control who gets the seat if the Captain hasn't put any qualifiers on his approval. For instance "pilots first, cabin crew second, then engineers or terminal staff" would be a common sequence. Exclusions would also be common.

 

[dcm]

I was also able to visit the coughpit of the Concorde during a flight from Budapest to London. The two main impressions I was left with were the small size of the coughpit and the passion of the flight crew for the aircraft.

 

[Flying Fox]

In 98 i had purchased my first QF F RTW ticket for my "big trip".

About a month out from leaving l recieve a phone call from QF offering me an upgrade for my 744 BA leg NY-LON to the BA Concorde same day for $400AUD.

Of course l jumped at the chance and was super excited.

Well l did the whole who-har thing booked the Concorde Limo transfer with BA to JFK. Whisked into the Concorde private entrance and straight through to the private lounge. Heaps of one on one treatment all the way, l was in heaven:shock:

Wow, what a great story.

As a child, I visited the flight deck many times.

I have also done the landing in the flight deck (jump seat with head set) on a SQ 747 into the old HGK airport. Totally amazing. I have also done the flight deck landing into CNS at about 1am on an AN flight. Both were amazing experiences that my children will never have (except if they get a job in the flight deck).

All done pre 9/11. Since then I have only done flight deck visits before & after flights.

 

[julesten]

Years ago my sister use to live with a qantas pilot so whenever I was on a flight he made sure I could go into the coughpit. He once paged me over the PA which was embarassing but fun at the same time. Good old days

 

[harvyk]

Yes, both,

Prior to 2001, no problems. I remember being invited to the coughpit by the CSM on a QF flight from MEL-PER when I was 13... (mid cruise about an hour before landing)...

Post 2001, I went up to the coughpit after landing on a HKG to SYD flight, (my avatar photo ), but I think it's very much up to the discretion of the pilot, or even the CSA \ FA asked

 

[NM]

Did it exist in the past? Sure did.

I rarely did a flight into the old HK in which we didn't have a passenger or two in the coughpit. Most sectors had someone come to visit at some stage.

And thanks again for the invitation to your office PER-MEL (incl landing into MEL) back when you were JB767 and active on aus.aviation. It was great to exchange seat 1A for a seat up front for the last hour or so of the journey.

Sandy Howard (now retired) was another who regularly welcomed interested passengers to his flight deck. He also had the habit of coming down to personally meet and greet the F cabin passengers. I sat behind him for a landing into LAX once, and each consumed several coffees while he sat on the "buddy" seat at 4K and we chatted about HARS and flying things like the Conny, Drover, Neptune and the soon to be delivered and restored Catalina.

Them were the days

 

[jb747]

Sandy Howard (now retired) was another who regularly welcomed interested passengers to his flight deck.

Truly delightful man, and a tremendous pilot and instructor.

He also had the habit of coming down to personally meet and greet the F cabin passengers.

Well, I'll consider myself trained by him, as I always try to do that on daylight sectors.

 

[mannej]

Definitely truth. It is one of two memories I hold from my first trip to the US as a young tacker nearly 20 years ago.
I would love to track the details down of the flight, but I am guessing that QF do not keep passenger records for that far back, or if they do that they are confidential.

Unfortunately I do not think I will get the opportunity to do it again.

 

[NM]

Well, I'll consider myself trained by him, as I always try to do that on daylight sectors.

Alas I do not get to sit in the F cabin very often, and obviously not for any of your daylight flights (yet). Captain Howard is the only one I have experienced, and it was indeed nice to see and well accepted by the passengers. I knew he was the captain from the initial PA, but knowing there was no chance of visiting his office I was very happy to see him visit mine. He started the cabin walk-around at 4A moving forward and then back down the starboard aisle, finishing with me in 4K, so he was quite happy to sit and chat with someone who knew of his HARS passion and had an interest in listening to a wise gentleman.

Many years earlier, flying to LAX, I noted he was the Captain of the flight. I asked the CSM if he would ask the captain if it may be possible to visit the flight deck. I was seated in 18J and once established in cruise the SO came back and asked me to follow him forward. I spent the best part of an hour there before returning to my seat. Captain Howard said he would like to get me back for the landing, but the weather forecast for LAX was not the greatest and he may need the assistance of his more experienced SO (for aircraft "spotting" I expect) and the other SO (4 man crew of course) was new and it was his flight arrival into LAX so important for his training to observe.

At TOD the SO once again came back to me and asked me forward. The cloud had cleared and weather at LAX was good, so his more experienced SO had forgone his view to allow me to observe a LAX approach and landing. He did not need to do that for me, but chose to do so, for which I am ever greatful.

My only non-QF flight deck arrival was on a BA 777 into LHR ... in August 2001. I was traveling in World Traveler EWR-LHR and was lucky enough to score and exit-row seat (seated next to a El Al 747 Classic Flight Engineer). An elderly passenger from somewhere in front got up to use the lav and fainted/collapsed in the aisle in front of me. My aisle exit row seat was the best place for this gentleman to sit and recover (typically given a cup of tea by the BA cabin crew to accompany his oxygen). So while I was standing in the galley chatting with the cabin crew, I asked if they might see of the captain would entertain a visitor, allowing the collapsee to remain in my seat for a while longer. That was met with an immediate invitation and I spent the remainder of the flight up front. I noted that the BA gave me a briefing about emergency exit from the coughpit (open the window, grab that handle and follow them down the rope). Perhaps the "crew descenders" are unique to the 777, but the QF crews have only ever mentioned the seatbelt/harness and oxy masks, not escape procedures.

 

[MrsW]

My dad used to be a captain at SQ and we used to travel in the pointy end (those were the days!)... that was many years ago and I used to get to go into the coughpit if my dad was operating the flight. I used to see passengers go to the coughpit at various times throughout the flight but never take off or landing. 9/11 saw an end to all of that or so I thought. On one of my dad's flights (now retired so was as a passenger) about a year ago, he was invited to the coughpit when the CS recognised him from all those years ago.... he declined as he didn't want anyone to get into trouble. So it all depends I guess

 

[docjames]

Pre 9/11 lots of coughpit visits during cruise - I used to always ask when I was < 15yo and almost always a yes on any flight > 1hr!

744 at night mid pacific was very cool, plus on 733/734s heaps of times.

But highlight would be sitting in jump seat (A300 iirc) landing at syd (on the e/w runway iirc) - dad knew the pilot and had teed it up for a birthday surprise - I was amazed at how much you can see compared to out the tiny pax window. I haven't been on the 380 but tailcam would be on the ife constantly for me! Problem with similar on CX 777 was sun glare though totally ruining the picture!

Post 9/11 Ive never asked, but have overheard pax who've asked be told "after the flight if the captain says ok".