<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by essxjay:
Mine was on my 10th birthday on a 747 heading to Anchorage. I was sitting right in the nose. My father (an ATC) was sitting in one of the jump seats in the cockpit. I sat in the other jump seat for part of the time. Ahhhh, the good old days!</font>
Essexjay, That's very cool!
I was once in Chile on an airline workout ) for Ladeco Airlines (as a banker to the airline), and I took an escorted weekend trip with the then CFO of the airline -- trying to get on my good side -- down to the gorgeous lake region from Santiago (about a 2 hour flight).
After drinking a Pisco sour or two during our happy hour flight (Friday evening) from the first row of this all-business class airline, I got to sit in the cockpit of this then new 737 (1983) for much of the flight, including the landing, which was incredibly amazing (scenery/experience).
When we arrived at the gate, I came out of the cockpit and asked my fellow passengers how a did...some of whom were a little bewildered...but it was a very unique/special experience.
Of course this kind of thing (civilian pax in the cockpit) would never happen in the US, but in Chile...and probably much of the rest of world???
As for weird experiences against US regulations, there was the time everybody stowed the overflow from the overhead bin on the floor of the aircraft on Aeroflot from Paris to Moscow...but that's a whole other story in and of itself!