Irishpilot,
Have you ever broken the speed limit? By even one mph??
I am slightly ashamed to say I habitually break the speed limit by considerably more than 1mph. Fast car, petrolhead, motorway commute, not enough hours in the day blah blah. Still have a clean licence though. I am also like most of us guilty of the odd minor SOP deviation and rule "flexing" at work. However allowing an unauthorised visitor to the cockpit whilst in flight would be regarded by my employer as gross misconduct which means job threatening, its in a different league.
How many aircrafts have been hijacked after a Cpt incorrectly allowed somebody on the deck
Can't think of a single one, Fed Ex 705 in 94' was nearly bought down by someone who was legitimately on the flightdeck, look it up, nasty incident. The rules are over strict and not flexible enough and its a great shame we have lost the flexibility to offer the jumpseat to those in need of a lift home or who are genuinely interested in what goes on up front.
All a great pity but that's (post 9/11) life unfortunately.