Poltergeist, you have given a very "legalistic" response for which I am grateful but I am not surprised by the response.
I come from an age where, for decades, visitors were allowed to the flight deck, at times deemed suitable by the Commander, and there was never a problem.
I accept that things have changed but I personally find the idea of government protecting it's citizens from terrorism quite laughable. Remember the Detroit bomber? Despite a whole raft of security procedures this one got through and guess who protected themselves? The people who were there at the time!
As a Commander I would always respect the rules but have to say that on this issue I don't agree with them. If I
really thought that the rules protected passengers etc then I
would agree with them. The piloting profession have only themselves to blame for allowing "nanny" government to impose such stupid rules on us.
Somehow - at least in my opinion - allowing this because the person is a friend/family/nice/famous/good looking/just plain curious - is not a justifiable reason. I mean - there are tens of thousands of professions out there where this would be absolutely unthinkable on grounds of professionalism and work ethics. Can you imagine, say a cashier at the bank inviting a friend to sit with her inside her glass cubicle for a bit of chit chat? Or a doctor having her husband sit by while she's examining patients? A teacher inviting someone over to the classroom without clearing it with the headmistress? Have you ever seen a tube or train driver invite a passenger into the cabin? Would you like to have staff's kids having a crèche at the control room of the nuclear power plant just down the road from your house?
Golf-Sierra, totally different situations methinks. When a doctor treats a patient there are issues such as confidentiality. Ok maybe a teacher would be different but surely a head teacher is on a par with an airline Captain? Trains? Well funny you should mention it but someone I taught to fly was an inter city driver and I travelled in the cab with him to Newcastle and back and this was all cleared and sanctioned by the suitable authorities! The creche at the nuclear control room?! We're not talking about unsupervised minors being allowed on the flight deck are we? Are you seriously comparing a bank cashier's role to that of an airline aircraft Commander - once again surely it would be better to compare the Bank Manager, wouldn't it? Or has respect for the piloting profession fallen
that low now?
Obviously from this thread there are opposing views but if HMG cannot trust aircraft Commanders to make a sensible decision then, my belief is that the lunatics are now running the asylums.