Today is the day I’m coming back to Minneapolis, MN. I will conduct some business from there and will attend two classes to try to conclude my MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

This should be an easy flight as I’m flying from Toulouse to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam straight to Minneapolis, MN.

This gave me the opportunity to take a couple of picture and video in Toulouse of the airport and of some of the planes there. In the back of this picture, you see the Beluga, the transporter plane of … planes parts! It is an impressive plane for sure! The one on the left just landed and is going toward the assembly hall in the back with the blue supporting structure on the roof…

Can I go in the cockpit of the airplane, pleeeaaaaasse?

After landing in Minneapolis, I asked to go see the cockpit to the steward. I’m not stupid I would not have asked before or during the flight!!! One time I asked to see the cockpit before the flight and it was granted but it was a smaller flight on a regional airliner. The plane was a Bombardier CRJ 700. I’m usually using the excuse of being a student pilot to gain access and talk to the pilots! A lot of professional pilot have sweet memories of the time they were students so it’s easier to connect with them and have some interesting exchanges!

My demand was granted and got to see the cockpit of the plane that transported us throughout the Atlantic. It is an Airbus A330. It, unfortunately, gained a bad rep after the accident a few months ago in Brazil but it is a very nice airplane that I’ve been using several time to go to Minneapolis from France. I particularly love the entertainment system, it is second to none compared to all the other airplanes I’ve taken!

I never got a chance to see the cockpit for real before. It was very interesting to see it. The pilots were closing their flight and had a few minutes to chat. We exchanged some experience (my limited and their extensive) and talked about the flight we just went through. I'm mentioning the landing was incredibly smooth and the co-pilot mentioned that the air was fairly calm and he did not have to use the spoilers! For a plane that size, that’s a performance as I understand it!

We talked also about the unusual route that we used. MSP (Minneapolis/Saint Paul Airport) is currently doing some work on the usual runway used and the pilots were instructed to use runway 17 but got rerouted at the last moment to runway 22L. The different approach allowed to see Minneapolis but I was on the wrong side of the plane for that. On the other hand, I was on the right side for the Saint Paul airport and military part of the MSP airport. Who knew they have a Mustang P-51!

It was a very nice 5 minutes that I have spent with these two pilots in their cockpit and I can only thank them to entertain me after a 9 hours trans-Atlantic flight. They did not have to do it but took the time.

I’ve tried to capture on video some of the elements but it was not easy from the aisle seat or from the confine of the Toulouse airport. As for the cockpit, I’m not ready to ask for video or photos just yet and I had left the camera and camcorder in my bag! Here are a few pieces of video put together.