Having been born on the wrong side of the curtain, I've done it all:
- Hand-flying an Antonov 24 on the captain's lap as a 6-year old. It had a pretty good flight-director. I was told "just keep the cross centered"!
- traveling in the cargo compartment of an Antonov (and later even ATR in the early nineties), holding on to the cargo net, because there was no space in the cabin
- playing with the revolver of an air marshall in the cabin, while he removed the bullets and conveniently used them as earplugs
- jumpseating in the navigator's den of a Tu134 with a glass nose
My dad and senior colleagues have even better stories, which I cannot quote here
Ah, happy days!
