Depending on the size of your wallet and your other experience, you could sign up for training in the 737 which might give you access to a good commercial level simulator. But, even that has security hoops, especially if you aren't a U.S. citizen.

Well, I jumpseated on an Air France-Regional flight from LEVX-VGO to LFPG-CDG on march 2007. Flight duration about 2 hours, aircraft ERJ-145.It was all a matter of preparation...I was travelling with the family to Disney Paris (That was an important thing, you are not supposed to want to blow the aircraft if your family is inside :( )I printed a short leaflet, put it into an envelope and gave it to the FA while entering the aicraft. The leaflet showed that there were no security issues with me, that I had real flight experience, that I was a somewhat "expert" in virtual flight, particularly in the ERJ-145 and that I had a good knowledge of the route, approach, possible landing runway, etc.. At the end of the document I included an answer sheet for the captain with two possible answers:1.- Cleared to visit the cockpit.2.- Unable to comply.(Thanks in any case)So I gave the envelope to the FA and I said "this is a message for the captain", after some seconds of hesitation she asked: what is it?, I said: I'm asking for permission to visit the cockpit. She said nothing more and we all got to our seats.The plane took off and while climbing she came to my place, gave me back the envelope and said: you will be allowed into the cockpit after the snack service. :( The captain, as you can guess, had ticked answer nº1 !!!As promised, she came later and said: follow me. And there I was, entering that noisy, hot and beautiful cockpit. The captain and FO welcomed me warmly and said: do you want to see the landing from here?. Well, I could not believe that such a thing was really happening, but it was as real as life itself.We were cruising at FL 280, then made an initial descent to FL 140 and then followed the Balod-Domus approach to finally make a perfect landing on RWY 26L of CDG.The experience was unforgettable, and they even gave me a complete pack of Jeppesen charts that they were not going to use any more.Long live Air France and their friendly crews !!!!

Hi Matheus,Assuming the rules/regs/laws don't expressly forbid jumpseating in your country (or your destination) and assuming you don't know anyone personnally in the airline you're going to fly, I would suggest to try the following :3- If this doesn't work, maybe you could take the time to prepare a very short letter explaining your passion for aviation (and mentioning your age, especially if you are young) and respectfully asking the captain to visit the cockpit or even to jumpseat. Prepare such a letter in an open enveloppe for each leg of your trip and ask the attendant to kindly pass it to the captain when boarding.I think a polite letter, providing it is VERY short and to the point, is better than a verbal message and should better get the captain's attention (especially if everyone is in a rush)I have absolutely no certitude about your chances but it never hurts to ask. Who knows? You might get lucky. I think a lot of people react kindly when they see passion combined with planning, boldness and perseverance !Hope this helps,Bruno PS (edit). If your father knows a flight attendant, ask him to check a few days in advance if he knows anyone on the flight(s). A friend - or someone he knows - would be an ideal messenger for your request to the captain.

I think there isn't any law that explicitly forbid jumpseating here. I liked your idea of the short letter. I'll try it.This friend is new in the company, so maybe he doesn't know many pilots yet, but when I confirm the flight I'll ask him if he happens to know one of them.Thanks for the ideas. As you said, it doesn't hurt to ask.

By the way, stinks that ATC can't do it anymore. We had a GA program for awhile where we would take controllers who don't fly up and show them what it looks like from our perspective, which was especially helpful with the post 9/11 security silliness around DC. Seeing it from our perspective (and from the more demanding airline perspective) would be useful to everyone.

I think there isn't any law that explicitly forbid jumpseating here. I liked your idea of the short letter. I'll try it.This friend is new in the company, so maybe he doesn't know many pilots yet, but when I confirm the flight I'll ask him if he happens to know one of them.Thanks for the ideas. As you said, it doesn't hurt to ask.

Matheus,Even if your father's friend doesn't know any pilot, he may know a flight attendant or stewardess on the flight that could become your messenger to the captain. Or even if he doesn't know the commercial crew on the flight he might drop a note to them. Also this guy (your father's friend) should be able to confirm whether admission to the flight deck is possible or not in your country.BTW, most of the other answers in this thread are useless since they refer to the situation in the US where jumpseating is impossible if you are only a regular passenger. Don't get discouraged by them since your country may have different rules. So you should check first if it is allowed and, if the answer is yes, then go for it !Cheers,Bruno

Matheus,Even if your father's friend doesn't know any pilot, he may know a flight attendant or stewardess on the flight that could become your messenger to the captain. Or even if he doesn't know the commercial crew on the flight he might drop a note to them. Also this guy (your father's friend) should be able to confirm whether admission to the flight deck is possible or not in your country.

That's what I've been thinking. He may know someone how knows someone who knows someone [...] who could talk to the pilot and I really hope that his answer is yes. But I'm lot deceiving myself with an expectation on something that [i know,] may not happen.

BTW, most of the other answers in this thread are useless since they refer to the situation in the US where jumpseating is impossible if you are only a regular passenger. Don't get discouraged by them since your country may have different rules. So you should check first if it is allowed and, if the answer is yes, then go for it !Cheers,Bruno

As I said in the beginning, my country (Brazil) has never had experiences of terrorism in any scale, so there are not laws, or just a few, regarding the entrance of 'unauthorized' personnel in the cockpit. The flight won't pass throught [or go to] any international airspace also.

Think of it like this. If you or a loved one is a passenger on commercial airliner, would you be OK with some random passenger being allowed inflight access to the cockpit? If you were the captain in charge of a commercial airliner, who would you allow in the cockpit?You know you're a nice person and are just interested in aviation, but who can just assume that is the case and allow you in the cockpit? The list of curious folks who would love to sit in that seat is probably pretty large (I know I would...) so who gets to go? Besides that, if all it took was some friendly schmoozing or letter writing to get in the cockpit, I'm sure people up to no good would figure that out.

Think of it like this. If you or a loved one is a passenger on commercial airliner, would you be OK with some random passenger being allowed inflight access to the cockpit? If you were the captain in charge of a commercial airliner, who would you allow in the cockpit?You know you're a nice person and are just interested in aviation, but who can just assume that is the case and allow you in the cockpit? The list of curious folks who would love to sit in that seat is probably pretty large (I know I would...) so who gets to go? Besides that, if all it took was some friendly schmoozing or letter writing to get in the cockpit, I'm sure people up to no good would figure that out.

Bob,In some countries it's still possible. And I understand that Matheus is young. There is probably a better chance for a young aviation fan to be admitted than for an adult, especially if he manages to make his request in a very personnal way. Anyway, you may be right about his chances but Matheus was asking for advice and he got it. It doesn't mean he will be succesfull but it doesn't hurt to try. By the way, even back when I knew nobody in the airlines, I often managed to get to the cockpit by just asking. You may be out of luck : wrong time, wrong captain or wrong circumstances (pilots in training or line check, bad weather, etc. etc.) but if you don't ask, you won't go.Rgds,Bruno

Being refused the jump seat as a mech, among other reasons, caused me to refuse overtime, and most road trips to fix airliners. You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. It does not matter, as I moved on to a better industry.

Most of the time its not even up to the PIC...I have seen the capt overridden before...it wasnt pretty but in the end the jumpseater stayed behind so what does that tell ya.... BTW noting like the sunrise at FL410 :( :(

Let me clarify, that it was a company policy after 9-11,not a refusal from the captain, although that happened a couple of times,and I respected those decisions. Some times the crew wants to be left alone.

On Saturday I met with that friend and he said what I was expecting to hear: only employees can fly in the cockpit. I was ready to hear that so I didn't get disappointed at all. A little bit sad, but not disappointed. And BTW, he's not a FA as I was thinking. He is still doing the course. He works as an airport assistant (the guy who does the check in, opens and closes boarding and some other stuff). Thanks for all the suggestions, especially Bruno, who was very supportive.