My Experience Inside The Cockpit

It was the 18th of May in Lisbon, Portugal. I could never have expected what would happen in the next 2 hours. Boarding for my flight to Madrid had started. I showed my boarding pass and entered the aircraft, looking for my seat. I was one of the first ones to board the aircraft - and I saw the flight deck door open. I was curious to check out the cockpit of this aircraft which I had flown on only once. After boarding had finished, I went up front and asked the flight attendant if I could check out the cockpit. The maintainance worker was telling the pilots about the fuel onboard and the other important things to be done before pushback. Then I went in. The pilots welcomed me, and asked me about myself. I told them about how I loved aviation, and that I wanted to be a commercial pilot when I grow up. Then I told them that I was really fascinated by the cockpit and the insturments in it. The captain´s reply was, "Would you like to sit in the cockpit with us, for the flight?" I was wonderstruck, first I thought he was joking, but then he told me to ask my dad for permission. I went back, and after a quick yes from my dad, I went back up front into the cockpit. The captain told the flight attendant something, and she pulled down the jumpseat for me (third seat for the flight engineer) and strapped me in! I was so excited! The pilots then finished the before-start checklist and the flight attendant came back in with a thumbs up. The aircraft was ready to go! The first officer then radioed ATC and asked for clearance to pushback from the gate. After getting clearance, the first officer then contacted the towtruck driver and told him that the aircraft was ready. The driver radioed back to release the parking brakes. The captain did that, and the aircraft started moving back! The towtruck pulled the aircraft to the taxiway and then stopped. The first-officer, after a quick check of all the systems, pushed the throttle to the taxiing speed. The aircraft was now on its own. ATC then told the pilots which runway to taxi too. Meanwhile, the pliots were relaxed, joking about the heavy british accent of a British Airways Pilot. The first officer gave me a quick tour of the aircraft systems, and also opened the emergency window just to show me! Then he told me about a so-called "Sterile Cockpit" till 10,000 feet, which means no talking about private matters, only matters related to the aircraft and flying it. Then the aircraft taxied to the runway, waiting for 2 landings and 3 takeoffs, and lined up on the runway. The pilots then got clearance to take-off. After asking me if I was ready, the first officer pushed the throttle to half, and after checking if the engines were running properly, pushed the throttle to full. The aircraft rolled down the runway. At about 155 knots, the computer screamed - V1, ROTATE - the speed at which the pilots rotate the nose up to a 15 degree angle for climb. After the aircraft reached 3000 feet, the pilots lowered the angle and climbed to 10,000 feet. Then the pilots switched on the auto-pilot and relaxed. The flight attendant came in and asked the pilots if they wanted anything. The pilots told him something in Spanish, and he went back into the cabin. The captain then gave me a comprehensive tour of the aircraft systems and told me some aerodynamic principles. The flight attendant then came in with some coffee and multi-grain breadsticks. The captain loved them, and offered me some. They were great! However, the first officer only ate food which was made before 10,000 years ago! He had this certain idea that the body cannot handle and digest things which are ingested other than what early man like Neanderthals ate when their body developed! So he hated those multi-grain breadsticks! The aircraft was slowly climbing to 34,000 feet, its cruising altitude. However, as it was only a short 50 minute flight, the first officer told me that they take-off, cruise for 15 minutes and go back down for landing! The captain then invited me into his seat to take a picture of me. After I went back into my seat, the first officer handed me a Sennheiser headseat, through which I could listen to what the pilots were talking to ATC. But after asking the pilots whether ATC could hear what I said, I decided to listen to the conversation on the cockpit speakers. Then we started our descent into Madrid. First they told us to descend to 24,000 feet. The pilots then told me about vertical speeds and angle of attack, along with ILS approaches. Then we descended to 13,000 feet. Then we turned left and descended to 5000 feet. Lining up with the runway, the pilots started their Final Approach. At 1800 feet, they put the gear down. For this flight, the first officer was landing manually as the day was sunny and visibility was unlimited. As the aircraft approached the runway, a computer shouted, "300"(feet), "200"(feet), "100"(feet), "50"(feet), "40"(feet), "30"(feet),"20"(feet), "Retard"(idle the throttle), "10" (feet). Then the aircraft flared(a slight nose-up angle) and touched the ground. The aircraft vibrated as the reverse thrust and the spoilers along with the speed brakes slowed the aircraft down. Then, at about 30 knots(pretty fast), the aircraft taxied to the terminal. It then docked at the gate. The pilots shut the aircraft down(the engines, fuel pumps, etc.) and set the parking brakes. The captain then told me to read out the After-Parking checklist to the first officer. Then I took the the pilot's email addresses and shook hands with them. And I also told them that that was the BEST FLIGHT I EVER HAD! I am in touch with the pilots, connected with them through Facebook and email. I still remember those 50 minutes of that flight - the best 50 minutes of my life!