A colleague told me that, long before 9/11 when it was encouraged for Captains to visit the cabin, he stopped and told a pretty young woman to go and talk to the 'bored' crew, at which the man in front asked if he too could visit the flight deck ? My friend did a bit of personal Racist Profiling and informed the man that it wasn't normally allowed, to which the response was, naturally, that he had just invited that young woman !
Reluctantly he took the man to back to the flight deck with him, and during the visit asked where he came from ? "I'm a Palestinian Arab, but we're not all idiots of course," was the reply !
He says he still has nightmares about the potential headline - Captain Invites Hijacker To The Flight Deck !!
I flew with one Captain who refused all visits, this is my Office he said, if I walked into the Bank, tipped my hat to a Teller and asked if I could watch the Manager at work, I'd get thrown out on my ear. He went on to say that we hold Surgeons, Judges, and other highly paid professions in some awe because we don't normally know what they actually do in their Operating Theatre or Chambers, so there is some mystique about their work, by only inviting passengers to the flight deck in the cruise, when most of us are sitting back drinking coffee, we make it look all too easy, so questions are asked about why we are paid the salary that we are, they never see us wrestling with a Cat III ILS approach into some difficult airfield in bad weather at night, "keep 'em guessing" was his attitude.
Whilst I don't entirely agree - I've had some interesting experiences as a result of allowing flight deck visits - he had a point.
Last edited by YorkshireTyke; 1st Apr 2014 at 02:00.