I did about 38 "fam" flights before they were banned after 09/11. Truly some of the best training ever completed. Several times encountered thunderstorms and got to see first hand what the pilots were looking at before they requested deviations. Fully learned to understand the difference between "light chop" and moderate turbulence. Saw St Elmo's fire come thru the wind screen, and encountered a lightning strick on a flight out of Phoenix. Was in the cockpit when we had a medical emergency with a passenger in the back, and was utilized by the crew to read the charts and procedures for the nearest airport we had to land at for assistance. It truly gave me an appreciation of what the pilots go through on their end and develop a a kinship with those "voices" in the headset. ATC and pilots are both in the business of safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air traffic, and I always felt that those who never got to experience this privelege never would truly understand the close relationship between controllers and pilots, and also how fragile that relationship can truly be.