Guests in the cockpit _POST 9/11 _ Survey

[James 1077]

Surely, as I child I would have adored to enter the flight deck of an actually flying machine; I guess it's almost everybody's dream, but I may be over generalising. Alas, I never had a chance in a real Jet airliner... but perhaps, and this just to invite others to kindly participate, was this also for my own and that of other passenger's safety?

I couldn't forget to mention the Aeroflot Flight 593 air accident, "kids in the cockpit", that so unnecessarily contributed to the death of all the passengers aboard.

From the age of 9 to about 15 I would fly at least 10 times a year (often more). From 4 to 9 it was probably only 4 times. On almost all of those flights I would spend at least 10 minutes, and sometimes more, in the cockpit. Sometimes I was even allowed to sit in one of the pilot's seats and touch the controls when one of the pilots wanted to stretch their legs.

Moreover there was always a steady stream of kids going for a visit on some of the busier school holiday flights!

At no time was the plane in any danger - in fact it may have been safer due to the eagerness of the kids and the "break from monotony" ensuring the pilots were possibly more alert.

Incidentally my favourite cockpit was the Tristar's.