The reason pilots still love guests in the cockpit (when we’re on the ground)

The journey to working on an airline flight deck is unique to every pilot and a source of pride to all. Pilots all remember the moment, that spark, that drove them to pursue their passion into the skies. It is why, when a budding young aviator asks to visit the flight deck, most pilots will view it as a highlight of their day.

Before the events of September 11, 2001, it was common for these visits to occur while in flight. My own fledgling aviation career was given little boosts of inspiration when I was able to request a brief time in the jump seat.

Fast forward to 2026 and the visits are limited to after the pilots have set the parking brake and shut down the engines. Most young visitors approach with caution, as if the flight deck is a scary place. It doesn’t take long, however, to become enthralled by the maze of switches and levers. Flicking a small switch tends to do the trick – which illuminates hundreds of lights across the flight deck. Normally used to ensure they are all operating correctly, it doesn’t fail to make a visitor smile.

Children often visit with their siblings, so a quick round of musical chairs in the confined space settles them into the captain and first officer seats, with hats on heads, before a brief retreat to allow mum or dad to take as many photos as they can. It is hard not to love seeing a child grab the control column with gusto and push and pull like they could take off at any moment.

Tight turnarounds usually limit the visits to a few minutes, but the hope that they may inspire a new generation of aviators is real.

Becoming a pilot remains a viable career. Global forecasts for pilot demand are mind-blowing, and the existing pilot cohort has large swathes on the fast track to retirement.

AI presents a clear and present danger to so many professions and aviation is not immune; however, the travelling community seem steadfast in its desire to have a human being at the flight controls.

Reducing the number of pilots on a flight deck has been mooted, but again, public sentiment opposes the idea. Even leaving aside the issue of a pilot becoming suddenly incapacitated, how could the next generation be adequately trained without experience sitting beside them? Not to mention the mental health implications of long hours working alone.

Learning to fly is a prohibitively expensive exercise for many, even with a number of training institutions now offering student loan schemes. The positive is that the high cost pays for a mix of both the classroom and the practical. There is a vast array of theory subjects that need tackling – air law, human factors, aerodynamics, radio phraseology, meteorology, aircraft systems, to name a few. But this is offset by the fun part – flying!

Flying level, turning, climbing, descending and stalling are covered within the first 10 hours of flying lessons, before each skill is integrated into flying a circuit to practise the all-important skill of landing.

The first of many milestones in aviation is “going solo”. After demonstrating several safe circuits and landings, the instructor will get out and ask the student to complete one solo circuit. With a pounding heart, the six-minute trip – pardon the pun – flies by. But after taxiing back to the parking spot, the student can exhale and be welcomed into the club of aviators.

Consolidation of these skills, introducing cross-country navigation, night flying and piloting more complex aircraft, is all part of the journey of accruing more hours towards a commercial pilot licence test. Then it is on to learning to fly solely on instruments including landing in poor weather and managing aircraft with two engines.

The theory exams also gain complexity. The air transport pilot licence exams have sorted the wheat from the chaff for decades. Then the search for that first flying job begins.

For some it may be heading to northern Australia where the general aviation sector is alive and well. Others will choose instructing to gain flying hours, while a lucky and talented few may be fast-tracked into the right-hand seat as a co-pilot in a regional airline.

Over time, these inexperienced pilots will accrue enough hours to apply to the major airlines. This process includes aptitude and psychometric testing, simulator flying tests and behavioural interviews. It’s gruelling, but if successful, an airline career awaits.

If this all sounds quite daunting, that’s because it is. The process of becoming a pilot is extremely challenging and the journey to reaching an airline is another mountain to climb altogether.

It’s why the advice to any wannabe pilot is simple: you need to love the act of flying passionately, because there will be a multitude of hurdles in your path to achieving your ultimate goal.

As someone who has been fortunate enough to climb my own mountain, it is why I value every flight-deck visit, which might light that spark in the next generation.