Great collection of videos. I flew for United for 33 years and enjoyed my job very much, but like everyone else, I didn't like going through the airports.
I was in Los Angeles and I was waiting at the gate for my plane to land. I had a scheduled flight to take the plane to Denver and then over to Washington, D.C. A young boy about 14 was staring out the window watching the planes taxi out and in from the runways. I asked him if he ever thought about becoming a pilot. He said he had thought about it a lot. I asked him where he was flying to and he said Denver. So then I knew he was going to be on my plane since we were in the United concourse.
I was in the cockpit and after we had finished with all the paperwork, I went back through the seats and saw him sitting next to the window with his mom and dad. I asked him if he would like to come into the cockpit while we taxi out to the runway. He was out of his seat in no time. We pulled down (what we call) the jump seat and he sat directing in back of me. Once we reached the runway, I had to send him back to his seat.
When the family exited the plane in Denver, the dad stuck his head in the cockpit and thanked us for allowing his son to sit in the jump seat out to the runway. He said that's all he talked about the whole way from LA to Denver. I told the dad, I thought he may have an up and coming pilot in his family. He smiled and nodded his head and thanked us again before exiting the aircraft.
