Thanks Qantas
 

Today my youngest and I did a MEL-SYD-MEL hop to burn up some FFP's, ride the ferries and see the Harbour but more importantly to spend some quality time together. On the way home, QF447, she asked if she could say hi to the pilots, after explaining why this was not an option in-flight we hung around in our seats after we docked back at Gate 24 at MEL until all pax were off and asked the CSM if this would be possible, after a quick check my girl was soon racing her way up front with the CSM for a visit to the flightdeck of our taxi home, a workhorse B767-300, and I have to say here and now the welcome she got was simply amazing, these 2 guys were fantastic, they took her in, sat her in the Left Hand seat, put on the captains hat and took some great photos, these are the sorts of things that in this day and age make all the BS we put up with in life all the more worthwhile. To the flight crew of this particular flight you'll be pleased to know my 6 year old girl has just gone to bed with a memory of today that will not be erased for a long time, after weeks of planning and all the excitement and expectation of the day, her most vivid and strong memory is what happened at the end of this flight and for that I am eternally grateful. What more can I say but a bloody huge thank you to the crew of this flight, you have etched a memory in 2 people that will not be erased for a LONG time.

Sounds like you had a great day with your daughter. I am pleased that the crew (cabin and tech) were obliging in your request and gave you a few minutes extra of their time. I am sure it will be remembered for a long time. It is nice to see a positive post amongst all the others that occur here.:ok::ok::ok:

Good work those Lads. I dips me lid to ya. :ok:

Very refreshing to hear!

As a kid who once visited the flight deck (in-flight too back in the day) I know it set the tracks to where I am today.

A special shout out to all the crew involved who made your special day VHOGI!

:ok:

Please send this into Qantas direct! All the crew would be really happy to receive this feedback!

I stuck your note on Qrewroom where it's now highly likely the crew will see it. Hope you don't mind.

Glad to know visits up front make an impression on the kiddies. I encourage it whenever time permits, always nice to see the smiles on their faces! Thanks for posting here, it's great to get some positives as the others have said, rather than all the negatives which seem to be the norm these days!

Make sure next time you're in Syd to go see the Heritage Collection if you haven't already. Ask for Des, he's always willing to explain the exhibits and has a story or two! :ok:

Keg, no problem at all, in fact I was trying to think about how I could convey this message directly to them but looks like you've done it for me, many thanks. I sincerely hope they do read it on Qrewroom.

To all others I'm glad you all appreciate the positiveness of this thread.

I think it goes back to the way it was, and the way we all would like it to be.:ok:

I wonder how many young people will never think of becoming pilots now that access to the flight deck is next to impossible to achieve.
How many young people decided to become pilots because of a vist to the flight deck in days gone bye?

It's lovely to see a nice story coming out of Jetstar's subsidiary company.:ok:

"Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? ".............:ok:

visits upfront certainly don't discourage ...
 

When my son was 15 (and had a couple of hours toward his PPL) he made a visit upfront Mel-Can (with QF). 14 years later he now sits upfront himself.

Might just have been the nudge to follow his dream

layman

I did. No doubt about it. I had always loved commercial aeroplanes from when I was very young, but what cemented it for me, what really made me WANT to commit 3 years of uni, +$60,000 and 8 years away from family and friends in G.A. was several visits to the flight decks of Qantas and Ansett aircraft.

Now that I sit in the same seat as those blokes I aspired to be like, I do whatever I can to encourage young guys and girls to get to see the flight deck - if they want to. When I was young, I always used to look for any opportunity to bypass the cabin crew who I thought couldn't possibly understand how much I wanted to see the flight deck, and for that reason now, where possible I stand behind the cabin crew and say goodbye and thanks to all the pax as they disembark, especially looking for younger kids that look eager.

Sometimes we're tired, sometimes the landing didn't come off just the way you would have liked (probably coz old mate did it!) and you just want to go home, but where possible I'm there.

It is a true shame that the flightdeck is now off limits during flight. It essentially de-humanises the job and I am certain that it fails to turn young kids' curiosity into a tangible and truley possible career path.

Anyway, until it changes and I doubt it will ever to be honest, I'm the one in the red jet waving at kids up against the glass trying to 'pay it forward' from the many blokes that inspired me. I know I'm not alone. We should all keep it up (and I know that many do) and remember where we came from and think about the type of people that us as pilots want to attract to our airlines in 5 - 10 years time.

Bloody great job to the Tech crew.

I partly grew up on the flight deck of TN aeroplanes from the age of 8 as Dad's great mate Ken "Boomer" Collins would take me jump seat on a days flying.

Brilliant, and I would have aspired to a CPL if not for astigmatism which then procluded to me. It happens, so I went elswehere in the industry.

The order and attention to rank and detail, procedures and precision have an effect on a younger person and rightly so.

A normal kid is going to see quite clearly that one has to have standards and abide by them in order to operate a complex machine.

I still remember my eyes nearly bugging out of my head when I visited Captain Jimmy James on the flight deck of TJA in flight and wondered how he and the F/O and F/E managed all those dials and still flew.

Well done again.

Keep the magic alive and maybe make a few more Aussie kids aspire to something that needs a heap of hard work and dedication.

Best all

EWL:ok:

Ground clear on 2:ok::ok:

Thank God to see a bit of sanity back. I always made it a practice to invite kids up to the flight deck, of course we could do it in flight then before 9/11, and it made our day to see them so interested, to say nothing of relieving boredom for us during long flights. Xmas was always special as they looked for Santa, what a bloody shame the world has come to this. Anyway congratulations to the QF crew, there should be more of it.:D

I've had a few locals ask to come up after LDG here in CX as well. They are always welcome and we sit them in the seats for a few pikkies. It happens maybe 3 times a year?? not as much as we would like.

Especially from DPS, those flights are full of very lovely little brown things from all over the world!!

Ahh the good ol days.

Yeah we used to have the kiddies come up to the cockpit during the cruise for stickers and a look around. Loved it when the little baastards pulled a circuit breaker on the panels behind the seats.

But occasionally they brought a yummy mummy with them which definitely was worthwhile...

....whilst boarding passengers in Adelaide (B737 Capt, so good view of everyone in the aerobridge) I saw a kid, who looked like he would be the sort to be picked on at school....sort of nerdy, 9 years old, square glasses....got the idea....he was travelling with his family to Syd......I spun around and asked cabin crew to grab the kid when he comes thru and well let him have a look....well, his eyes were like saucers...his old man and mum popped in as well....
...message came thru during the flight, that the old man wanted to see us as they disembarked....which they did....they got our addresses...and luckily enough they owned a winery in the Barossa, and so, just like clockwork, every month a carton of quality red turns up on the doorstep...

.....moral......be nice, share the experience, have fun, and you will be unexpectedly rewarded......

...no matter how pissed off we get with management, or the system, or whatever, there are squillions of people who would kill to do what we do...and we get paid rediculously do to it...

...just have fun.......:ok:

When I was a wee little tacker of 9yo I flew to Europe with mum and dad. On the BKK-Bahrain(?) sector, dad asked the FA about having a look up front and we were lucky enough to get invited up to the cockpit (747 classic).

The vision is still in my head to this day - sun had just set over India, we were just off the eastern shore with the amazing network of towns all lit up beneath. The dials and gauges in the cockpit were all illuminated and bathed in the orange glow as it was getting dark. I stood there trying to take it all in, and probably saying little. Dad loved the experience as well.

Cue 20+ years later, and whilst I distinctly remember the event, I had not given it too much conscious thought in recent years. Then my first flight up the sharp end of a real jet with pundits in the back was out of Thailand heading to the Middle East. There were three crew and I was the spare for the first couple of hours - through the late afternoon.

My turn came up as it was getting dark, I made my way up the front, jumped in the RHS and looked outside - towards the coast of India with all the lights along the coast. Of anywhere in the world I could have made my "Jet debut", there it was, at exactly the same place, and at the same time of day and that indelible childhood event.

Sadly I had lost my dad a couple of months before and I could not tell him about it.