Originally Posted by GreatCircle
USA - never could before 9/11
I dunno - quite a blanket statement, depends on the situation. During an overnight flight from Washington to Europe in late '80s, and due to my professional relationship with an airline, I was
invited onto the flight deck (jump seat) of an A310-300 for almost the
whole flight, given a full review of flt deck ops, even tried to answer a few questions ("Hey, how come this vector's display is scrambled?"). At the time, I was customer service rep to a then-major player. Crew was very professional, candid and happy to have an interested visitor. I didn't interfere, never touched a thing, and they never for a moment lost touch with flt deck goings-on.
Too bad things have changed, eh? I'm glad you accept requests on-stand, it must be rewarding to see a child (or even adult) with an utter wide-eyed "Wow-WEEEE" expression, you
can make their day.
Cheers, y'all.