Hello, So I’m a licensed student pilot i fly cessna 172 & 152 my question is it legal for a student pilot to seat in the jump seat during a flight in major airlines aircraft ?
Ali,
No it is not. You will only get that privilege once you are employed by a regional or major airline. There is a security screening process that happens to get jump seat authorized.
Hannah
Ali,
The short answer is no. In order to have access to the flight deck, there are many checks and balances that have to go through departments before you can get criterion for the jumpseat. And after all that screening, you must get permission from the captain to sit jumpseat.
Brady
Ali,
It is very illegal and even if it were not, very few Captains would allow extra people in the cockpit that are not airline pilots.
Chris
Thabj you for the answers guys
Ali,
You may have heard about some fairly significant events thats happened on 9/11/2001. In addition to the tragic end of many lives, one small other effect was the end of cockpit visits in flight forever.
Adam
US airline cockpit in-flight visits were against regs even before 9/11/01, but foreign airlines were known for allowing visits. I visited the cockpit of an Air France 747-200 over Greenland on the way from Paris to New York. As an IFR rated PPL at the time, I asked the pursor flight attendant if he could ask the Captain about a visit. He picked up the phone, spoke for less than 10 seconds to the flight deck and led me to the upper deck.
There were 2 pilots and a flight engineer. They were all very friendly and interested in knowing about GA flying in the USA. I spent about 15 minutes talking with them. This was before cell phones with cameras and I had left my regular camera at my seat so I only have the good memory of the event.
OP - on the ground you can ask for a visit either before or after flight. If the crew isn’t busy they will usually allow it.
David,
I respectfully disagree. While CFR 121.547, Admission to the Flight Deck, is an old reg from the 60’s, prior to 9/11 it was at the “Capt’s descretion” who could be admitted on the flight deck in flight and many would. After 9/11 things changed dramatically (and for good reason). Doors became mandatory and we’re reinforced with deadbolt locks, and not only could no one gain admission upfront, but the door can’t even be opened aside from required breaks for biological needs. So yea, I’m still blaming the terrorists for the fact my kids can’t ever sit up front.
Btw, after a flight the crew is generally more anxious to get off the plane than most of the passengers are. If you’re going to ask for a visit, preflight is the time to do it.
Adam
I got to go on the flight deck during a flight in the '90s (about 1994 I think?). It was awesome, and something I’ve never been able to do since. By the early 2000’s I was working for an aerospace manufacturer building cool widgets to ensure it would never happen again…
If the regs allowed it (from a legal standpoint), then the airline ops spec could still prohibit it, which makes it regulatory, right?
Perhaps I was being to general I saying all US airlines were not allowed to give in flight visits. Did your airline allow it pre 9/11?
I flew a lot on the major US airlines before 9/11 as a private pilot passenger and was told a few times that it’s strictly prohibited. Now I’m thinking this was an airline specific restriction, which essentially becomes regulatory. The Aeroflot crash where the Captain allowed his kid in the left seat in the mid 90s further supports such restrictions.
I’m surprised 121.547 hasn’t been revised to be more narrow, unless the feds are relying on all the US part 121 carriers to have the restriction codified into the ops spec.
David,
I have no idea what regulation actually prohibits visas to the flight deck, but I can assure you that they are very much prohibited but the federal government.
Chris
David,
Visits to the flight deck in flight are nothing more than old campfire stories to be passed around. Those days are long gone! If you want to see the flight deck, it will be on the ground at the gate with the parking brake set preferably pre-flight with the approval of the captain and crew.
Hannah