Help with flying

Belfast City Airport have held airport familiarisation events for children (I don’t recall if it included the flying element). If you haven’t already, maybe you could contact an airport near you to enquire if they run something.

I massively struggle with airports, to the point that flying solo required booking assistance a few years ago. 
For the airport, several airports have walkthrough videos, this is an example for Belfast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjRw3doi4sg 
For the actual flying I found this compilation of take offs and landings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4c2x7RnaXY and there are others including someone who made a mix of passenger boarding sounds. Key search terms are things like passenger pov
Otherwise I agree with Iain to bring plenty of sensory kit and ear defenders, and wear or get him to wear a sunflower lanyard as airport staff in particular respond really well to them and will help wherever they can

Eddie214 said:

I know he will struggle with the noise

Take some industrial strength ear defenders to use during take off and landing would be my recommendation. Also sitting towards the front of the engines will reduce the noise a bit.

Once over the loud part of taking off and reaching altitude then you can switch to noise cancelling headphones so you can talk. Take some sweets (hard candies/mints perhaps) to help him with "popping" his ears with the depresssurisation and again with pressurising nearer landing. Keeping the jaw moving helps with this discomfort.

It will help to treat it as an exciting adventure - be positive about it all and show you are looking forward to it and hopefully the positivity will be catching.

A window seat can keep him in contact with what is going on and he can watch the scenery if he wants to be distracted.

On the whole flying is pretty boring though so make sure he has plenty of short term focus things such as a comic / puzzle book / portable gaming console etc to give him an option to withdraw if he needs to.

At this age I think it helps to ask him what he would like to do more - give him more agency to think as an adult and take control over what he will do but be there to help him with suggestions if he is unsure.

Do you happen to live within practical reach of Heathrow Airport? (Please don't feel you need to actually answer that, if you'd prefer to keep your general location completely private).

British Airways and Heathrow offer "Flight Ready Programme - Autism" - a free, one-day event that's designed to help autistic people and their families to "travel with confidence".

It includes experiencing "key stages of the airport journey that can feel challenging, such as check-in, security and boarding. You'll then take part in the onboard cabin experience, where our cabin crew will take you through what happens onboard our aircraft, such as the inflight service, a safety demonstration and disembarking processes", with the opportunity to ask questions at each stage.

The next one is scheduled for 9 May 2026. Spaces are limited and, according to Heathrow, are allocated via a ballot system.

British Airways - Flight Ready Programme – Autism

Heathrow - Non-visible disabilities

There's also some more general advice here:

NAS - Holidays - guide for parents and carers

For information about the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower (available in lanyard and other forms):

Hidden Disabilities - Sunflower

I found some Getty stock videos similar to what you might be after. They do images/films you can buy for films/presentations, but you can just look at them with the watermark. It's all staged, but shows lots of different parts to the experience so he can get an idea of what to expect. 

www.gettyimages.co.uk/.../people-inside-airplane

Might be worth getting a sunflower lanyard, or contacting the airport before to see if that have things to help for autistics? (See if they might have a quiet area for example?)

Having sucky sweets helps with the pressure during take off/when it feels uncomfortable.

I don’t understand why lots of emojis went in this initially so I’ve tried to post again!  I’m after some advice. I’m taking my 15 year old son to Edinburgh later in the year. We’ve never been in a position where we could fly before. I want to take him abroad in a couple of years andthought a short flight this year will help. I wondered if anyone knows where I could access a flight video taken from the point of view of the passenger? He understands about flying and wants to d it, I know he will struggle with the noise and wondered if he has a sense of what happens on take off he’ll manage much better. I have of course looked myself but all I can find is from the perspctive of flying the plain or tiny snapshots. If anyone has any ideas for me I’d be very grateful

Take off and landing are exciting, the bit in the middle is boring, the feeling of excelleration and G forces is fun, looking down on the world getting smaller and then looking down on clouds is quite cool. You gradually feel yourself becoming more aware of gravity as you come in to land. Maybe make it a living science lesson?

I'm sorry but I struggles to read your post as there are so many emoji's in the middle of words and I can't really see them and nor do I understand them.