Alison Hardebeck and her husband agreed on their son’s first solo flight for a special reason — his cousin’s birthday.
“I grew up in California, now I live in Washington state. So my whole family is still in California, and my sister calls and says that for my nephew’s birthday coming up, all he wanted for his birthday was for his cousin to come at his birthday party,” Hardebeck tells PEOPLE about the situation that led to a unique experience for her son.
While 11-year-old Jacoby was free, the rest of the family was not. “My husband coaches our second son’s soccer team, so he couldn’t go for the weekend. I couldn’t go either, so we decided to go ahead and let him fly alone for the first time.”
After talking it over with her husband, the couple — who have flown countless times with all three of their children — felt comfortable letting Jacoby go on his own, leaving him at the door in Seattle and having family members bring him from Sacramento.
“Our son, he’s a typical first-born son and when he decides to do something, he does it. But he’s very curious and tends to be a little more cautious,” Hardebeck says of the considerations.
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“Obviously he had some questions for me, like ‘What’s it going to look like? Where am I going to sit?’ And so he asked questions, I answered them, and he decided it was something he wanted to do, and we decided to support it.”
It would be a nerve-wracking moment for any parent, but the dangerous weather in Seattle has added to the worry.
“The plane actually tried to land a couple of times, but it wasn’t safe for them to land so it diverted to Portland to get more fuel. So we were actually about three hours late,” she shares. “At that point, Coby and I had been at the airport for quite a while, and he was hoping he could leave because it was a super quick trip – Friday night to Sunday night.”
When he was finally able to board, the 11-year-old was “so ready and excited,” but Hardebeck remained at the airport with her own worries.
“As a mom, you let your baby—who will always be your baby—fly away, right? The flight is an hour and a half, no layovers. I know my dad is on the other side, standing there waiting. So logically I know that he will be fine, and then I get this message from an unknown number.”
Hardebeck almost wrote it off as political spam when she saw Jacoby’s picture. When she clicked, she was greeted with a picture of her son sitting in the cockpit of the plane.
Jessica Barrie
The message was from Captain Doug Larimer, a Southwest Airlines pilot who took the time to reassure Hardebeck and her family waiting in California that Jacoby was being treated well and enjoying himself, much to the shock of the unexpected mom.
“I was in complete disbelief and shock, in the best way. Just to see the look on Jacoby’s face — it’s pure joy. You see no anxiety, no worry, just a big smile on his face. I really was so thrilled, too, especially in in a day and age when people tend to be much more cautious and reserved.”
At that moment, the pilot was simply doing what he had done for countless other children who had been on his flights throughout his career.
“One of the reasons I do it is because every parent loves to have a picture of their child in the cockpit,” Larimer tells PEOPLE, recalling the time he was allowed to do the same as a child, which inspired his love of flying.
“It’s one of those little moments to pay other people whose kids think it’s a cool place to visit, to explore.”
It was especially important for Larimer — himself a father of two boys, 10 and 12 — to appease Hardebeck and Jacoby’s grandfather after the weather and delays. What he didn’t expect was for the gesture to be shared on social media, with Hardebeck hoping to get the captain some positive recognition.
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“I put it in my stories, just a screenshot of my text and in my story and the response I got was overwhelming. Just, as a mom, you have someone who said, ‘I’m going home to my boys.'” Just the fact that you’re recognized as parent, what that might mean,” says Hardebeck.
The Instagram Reel — which has racked up more than 6 million views and counting — took Larimer, whose parent had never before responded to a cockpit picture, completely by surprise. The dad, who doesn’t spend much time on social media, was shocked at how much attention the gesture generated.
“I mentioned my encounter with Jacoby to my crew after it happened and a week later, I came back to work and one of the flight attendants took out this phone and said, ‘did you see this on Facebook?'”
Continues Larimer, “I thought, ‘Wow, this is kind of crazy,’ and we were laughing, like who knew this was going to blow up?”
Jacoby was equally surprised, and is happy that Larimer is getting the recognition he feels he deserves. “Captain Doug was a very sweet person,” the 11-year-old tells PEOPLE. “He’s one of my favorite pilots I’ve ever seen. It was great.”
As for Hardebeck, she believes Larimer’s decision to make a “human connection” could have a “lifelong impact” on the pre-pubescent child. “So many commenters have said that maybe this will plant a seed in your son, with a love of aviation. And it’s just a reminder that a small gesture of kindness, to make someone feel safe, can really go a long way.”
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Source: HIS Education