Originally Posted by
Curious Pax
I was lucky enough to get a flightdeck trip on a BA 757 from Heathrow to Schiphol one evening a few years ago (pre-2001 of course). For such a short trip I guess we were pretty light, so ATC invited us to go over the inbound stacks rather than under as was the norm. (I think they termed it "can you be at FL120 by such and such a point" but I understood to amount to the same). I don't remember how quickly we were up over 12000 feet, but it didn't take long. As fog had been forecast for Schiphol (but hadn't materialised when we got there - was as clear as a bell) the captain asked me to decide if they should do an autoland or a manual. Naturally never having seen an autoland closeup I asked for that, which was kindly obliged.
A truly memorable ride due to the hospitality of the flightdeck crew, such a shame that I won't get the experience again.
My first of several fam flights in the '90s was on G-BIKV with Capt Dickson and F/O Wales. They were the kindest hosts from pre flight to Helsinki right through to shutdown on the return. The feeling of being up front as the -535C's spooled up remains to this day. As does the sporty initial climb. And such a roomy office.... on a future MD80 trip I happened to mention to the Alitalia skipper my first trip up front having been on the 75. He smiled wistfully, as we taxied BEHIND CONCORDE to 27R, saying "ah, no fold down jumpseat in the doorway for you there- you could get a couch in the 75 deck...."
Such happy days.