The Cockpit?

What goes on inside the cockpit, most will not know. It is well secured.

Whenever a pilot wants to use the toilet, a senior flight attendant has to secure one, and then signal to the pilot to come out. Out he comes quickly and the cockpit door is immediately closed. In he goes inside the toilet swiftly and promptly, as if he has been holding for a long time, whilst the flight attendant stands guard outside his cubicle and the cockpit. When he is done, he swiftly and promptly goes back into the cockpit. Almost the same procedures apply when meals are served to the pilots in the cockpit.

Before it became a rule not to open the cockpit door to non-crew members, decades ago, and well before 911, there were instances when the pilots might invite a person or two to go inside the cockpit to have a look.

And here is a true, albeit funny, encounter by my friend’s sister; yes, two decades ago.

She was waiting for her flight at the airport and a pilot walked by. He made a pass at her and asked her whether she wanted to go to the cockpit. Whilst she was pleased she was also wary as she wondered why the pilot wanted her to go to the Cockpit Hotel.

Side note: The Cockpit Hotel, in Penang Road, was completed in 1972 but razed down in 2002 to make way for a commercial cum residential project.

Talking about air travel always reminds of this encounter by a former SIA stewardess (not the one in Perth now).

She was going about to clear the food trays. She asked the passenger, “Sir, are you finished?” The passenger responded, “No, I am British.”

Pilots have the lives of the crew and passengers in their hands literally. If they goofed up not only those on board are in danger, those in the vicinity of where the plane might hit or land are also in danger. As such, no sympathy for pilots whose licences are revoked because of safety violation.