in the early 1980 2 I used to take my sons to the cargo terminal at LHR on a Saturday so they could go in the cockpit of Pan Am's B747 Freighters ...( I worked for one of the airlines they handled ..)
pre all the security and no issues .. the crew were very nice to my sons and made them welcome and explained what all the gauges and levers were for ... although I'm not entirely sure their explanations were truthful. My sons couldn't believe that the crew had to climb up a ladder - and that it was pulled up after they were in the cockpit ..
My aviation career enabled ( and required ) me to spend many hours in the cockpit .. on B707F & DC-8F.
One of the most memorable is a flight to LUN via NBO and the sight of Mt Kilimanjaro through the cloud at sunrise ..
African skies through the cockpit window are always so unbelievably clear and at night the stars so near.
From FL 350 - you can almost see right across the continent - just magical.
I also had the opportunity to travel in the cockpit out of PER on the "new" B747-400 - how strange to see just 2 pilots and no F/E - and the view from the jump seat across WA is so amazing.
I then spent many many hours in the cockpit of A300 F ..and always nice to see sun rises and sun sets , ( the joys of cargo flights ) beautiful skies over many cities..
The thread triggered so many memories ..