Luckiest guy on allegiant flight 526

Stapp0770 said:
so we bored about 2 hours late out of PSC, (Pasco, Washington), As I bored the aircraft, i have my aopa flight training mag april addition in one hand. As i walk one of the pilots i hear, " working on your ratings??" so i turned and said yea my PPL. Hes like hey, come up front and have a seat! I was so shocked, that i said umm isnt that illegal. lol. The pilot said nooooope, and so he let me sit in the left seat, showed me all the controls, and asked about my future, so we chatted a while until it was time to push back, and plus the captain was walking back with his starbucks lol. But yea i was in heaven and just wanted to give a big shout out to " Phil", the allegiant flight 526 from PSC to LAS FO. Sorry im still in shock. lol. anyone else have this awsome experience?

Tommy
Click to expand...


Cool. I've had a few pilots do that for me too when I was in training. Its a great thing when airline pilots take pride in their job and share that with other aspiring aviators.

Just FYI, I think you meant board. ;)
 
frog_flyer said:
Aye, I've had one of those.

I always try to pop my head in and say 'wuddup' as I board.

It was a United a320 and I peeked in and said hello. I told em it was my first time aboard a 'bus and the captain (old geezer) got up out of his seat and offered it to me... Sweet. I started asking about bleed air and everything and you know what? He let me fire up the APU so I could look at all the numbers and the systems and everything. Sweeeet.

I was up there for about 5 minutes just shootin' the sheet with the guys. Totally cool!

I plan on being the same way if I'm ever in his position.
Click to expand...

Same here. Back in May '01 my family and I went on vacation to L.A and we had to fly to Chicago to catch a connecting flight. After deplaning from the United A320 I went into the cockpit and they showed me all the instruments. The captain even took off his cap and let me take a photo in his seat with his cap. Great people and it is probably something I will never forget.

Kids overall, even the ones that don't want to be pilots when they grow up, seem to have a lot of respect for pilots. (Then they grow up...:D )
 
Oooo, I had another one. My uncle is an MX for US Air in PHL. When the family was coming back on a flight to SEA (I was about 6-7), My uncle let my brothers and I walk around the ramp a little bit and go up the cool ladder on the side of the jet way. Then we got to chill in the cockpit and talk to the flight crew.

But, one thing, I always shake the pilots hands.

strapp0770 said:
i believe it was an md 83, its the smaller one outta their fleet. still goin crazy lol.
Click to expand...

sweet!
 
frog_flyer said:
Aye, I've had one of those.

I always try to pop my head in and say 'wuddup' as I board.

It was a United a320 and I peeked in and said hello. I told em it was my first time aboard a 'bus and the captain (old geezer) got up out of his seat and offered it to me...
Click to expand...

In my experience the United pilots are the friendliest group when I am jumpseating.
 
Unless im in a hurry or can tell that the crew is in a hurry i almost always ask to step up front. I dont think i've ever had a "no" but there have been a few instances where the crew has gone above and beyond. Probly one of my most memorable was a US Air flight from PIT-EWR. It was a layover from DFW (DFW-PIT-EWR) anyway, it was the same plane all the way from DFW to EWR so we had the option to stay on board. Which of course i did. Long story short. I met the flight crew, they let me sit up front and we chated for awhile. They told me i could stay up there all the way to pushback. It was awesome seeing them go through all the preflight checks and testing all the bells and whistles. I've also had good experiences from a Continental 757 captain. We talked for probly a good 10-15min after a flight from MC0-EWR. The other good memorie was last summer on an Airtran flight ATL-DFW, even though it was a late arrival the crew was still very friendly and showed me all the 737-7 systems. The cool thing about this visit was that the plane had only been in rev service for 3 days so everything was still sparkly. I deff plan on paying it back once i get in that seat.
 
I'd like to find that American Airlines 707 Captain that let me sit up front, and gave me the wings and toy airplane when I was 10 years old. I was hooked ever since then. What a great experience it was.

That is awesome of the Allegiant guy to do that, and I am sure he has made a big impression on you.
 
Craig_Davidson said:
Unless im in a hurry or can tell that the crew is in a hurry i almost always ask to step up front.
Click to expand...

I leave them alone.

It's a cockpit. Sure, it's got fancier dials and switches and it's far more complex than the one I fly in but so what?

Don't get me wrong, it's cool to see the cockpit, but I'm not going to interfere with the crew when they're working!

Would you like it when someone bothered you when you were trying to do your job? If you wouldn't, then don't bother others who are doing theirs!

I'm more concerned with getting my bags stowed and my butt in my seat so I can sleep than taking a look at the cockpit!
 
tonyw said:
Would you like it when someone bothered you when you were trying to do your job? If you wouldn't, then don't bother others who are doing theirs!
Click to expand...


Honestly when i get to that point in my career, unless im extremely busy getting something done that has to be done. I would take joy and pride in showing off my job. How many people get to show off their office?
 
I think I'm gonna get myself a fancy new Jetcareers.com t-shirt, and make sure to always carry around the latest copy of AOPA Training...!! HAHA! Worst case scenario, nobody notices me:D ...
 
My best one yet is when I asked to go up front after out flight to HNL on ATA, the 757-300 is a sweet plane.

The FO took his time explaining everything to me, the best part was you had to take one step down to get into the 57 cockpit, man I love that plane, hope to fly it one day.

I sure will do the same when I work my way up!!
 
If we're not running late, I make time for whoever's interested.

When I was about 7, my mom and I were flying on Ozark down to Florida and got stuck in Nashville with a broken DC-9. I can't remember exactly how it went, but I remember sitting in the cockpit for a while on the ground. I'll never forget that or the many times my dad let me sit in the Citation III back in those days.
 
tonyw said:
I leave them alone.

It's a cockpit. Sure, it's got fancier dials and switches and it's far more complex than the one I fly in but so what?

Don't get me wrong, it's cool to see the cockpit, but I'm not going to interfere with the crew when they're working!

Would you like it when someone bothered you when you were trying to do your job? If you wouldn't, then don't bother others who are doing theirs!

I'm more concerned with getting my bags stowed and my butt in my seat so I can sleep than taking a look at the cockpit!
Click to expand...

You're the exception than the norm. Future pilots love seeing all the gadegets even if they dont know what it does. and I dont think the crews mind it at all when passengers want to come up and see the FD. During the first flight of the day we are kinda busy. But all the other legs after that, I can get my stuff done in about 3-5 minutes (love ACARS!). Gate agents start boarding 20-15 minutes till departure. So i have a lot of extra time.

Its also very good PR. The pilot image has taken a huge hit lately from idiots who come to work after a few drinks, labor disputes, and whatever else. I think we as professional pilots need to do more to win back the public. Using the FA's phone to make the PA is a nice touch, something you rarely see these days.
 
blee256 said:
You're the exception than the norm. Future pilots love seeing all the gadegets even if they dont know what it does. and I dont think the crews mind it at all when passengers want to come up and see the FD.
Click to expand...

Well, you have to understand that long before I ever thought about actually piloting an airplane, I had been racking up 50-100K miles a year in business trips for years. So I guess you could say the oh, how cool factor was long gone.

Once, though, when I was an eight year old kid on a flight, I went to use the lav. I opened up the cockpit door instead and the pilots said hello and asked me if I wanted to stay for a while. Now that was cool.

No, I don't know what airplane it was. I don't remember the airline. I don't even remember where we were flying to and from.

Honestly, the only thing I'd care to see in the cockpit is the view when the plane is flying. That's something I can't see! And I never know if the crew is busy so I leave them alone.
 
Good story, always nice to have folks up front.

Stapp0770 - is there a Starbucks in PSC? I always do turns there, but never go inside. If I am missing out on a possible java fix, I need to know! :)
 
bike21 said:
Good story, always nice to have folks up front.

Stapp0770 - is there a Starbucks in PSC? I always do turns there, but never go inside. If I am missing out on a possible java fix, I need to know! :)
Click to expand...

Its been some time since ive flown outta there. I saw people with starbucks cups all over but no i didn't actually see the place just figured there was one. And plus he had a white cup so i put 2 and 2 together. lol
ps. I could be wrong cuz people will go outta there way to grab a starbucks!!
Tommy
 
I do ground marshelling for Q400s in Australia, and there are some awesome flight crew, one captain invited me into the left seat and the FO showed me all the systems. ALot of the pilots are interested in my flight training because a few of them were instructors at one point, so they like to tell me stories of their instructing experiences. I'm always asking them for advice on career path etc.

ALso when I was cleaning 737ngs, the Engineer let me sit in the left seat and we had a chat about my plans and all that.

But I guess the most impressionable moments was when I made trips to the flightdeck when I was a kid. It made me wanna grow up so quickly and become a pilot, but most of all just the beauty of the cockpit.
 
So, on my flight yesterday from TUS to DFW (AA 1386) Capitaine Phil let me sit in the S80 Right seat for about 15 min while the plane loaded. I took the CA and FO brownies because they were having a poor day: delays, etc. And, how nice was that?? Capitaine Phil answered a lot of questions I had and was very nice to show me the Flight Deck. Just more stuff to keep the excitement and drive alive!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top