Exactly right. US Government Agencies love to impose their insane and paranoid policies on "lesser" nations and pressure them into compliance. It is actually refreshing to be on a foreign flight where they don't seal the cockpit up like a bank vault. It's a sad shame that our culture has become one of suspicion and paranoia. We are trained to see terrorist and criminals around every corner, then forced to endure violations of OUR rights every time some genius wants to justify their job/existence by raising the aviation "threat" level. We are then taught not to question these decisions and what goes on behind closed doors. Big Brother knows whats best for us and he plans to give it to us, like it or not. Sorry if I went off in a different direction. Just speaking my mind.

You mean the story to which I linked in the 4th posting in this thread?

I guess we're paranoid but perhaps we feel there is a reason? Not everyone relishes the thought of slamming into buildings..or having to choose between jumping hundreds of feet or burning to death. Maybe you never saw the pictures of those who jumped from the Twin Towers? The US press did seem to censor them for some ridiculous reason.
One gentlemen, identity unknown but to God I suppose-had his hands clasped behind his back as he plummeted headfirst to his death. Clearly, he chose. RIP friend, whoever you were.
Do I excuse everything we do in the name of security? No. Nor do I agree with all the actions. But let's not trivialize what those who died that day went through.

Just speaking my mind as well

I realize that "bash the USA" is a popular viewpoint to hold on this particular forum, but you must understand something before you blindly criticize this policy. The purpose of the policy is to prevent a hijacker from entering the cockpit and causing harm to people on the plane or on the ground. If the US was to exempt foreign carriers from this rule, and then a hijacker took over the foreign airplane and slammed it into a building in the US, everyone would be calling for the government's collective head.

Funny the other countries are not worried about hijackers slamming aircraft into -their- infrastructure. @:-)

You have to face the facts some day. We've become a nation of paranoid reality-deniers.

lianluo, the memories of the people who died on 9/11 are being cynically exploited, not honored, by our government.

Thank you birdstrike. I'm glad to see there are others on here who "get it."

As for so called "USA Bashing" I have the right to criticize any policy I see fit. The underlying implication is that anyone who criticizes our government is unpatriotic and should be ashamed. That's all a part of the new "patriotism" that has swept our country since 9/11. In my opinion anyone who is a true patriot and defender of our nation's values will speak out against the rapid erosion of our civil rights. The sheeple have traditionally been the majority in every great civilization. The ability to rule over and keep them believing the official doctrine is what has made many nations so powerful. Our nation is no different. A sheep rarely if ever realizes s/he is a sheep.

I think the point we were making is that it is actually nice to see little things that remind us of a nicer and more innocent time in our own country. I can remember going with my dad to the airport as a child, walking him to the gate and staying until his plane departed. There was no one there to say who can and cannot walk freely about the building and no "sterile" areas. Those were better times and the threat of hijacking seemed to be more of a punchline than a cause for paranoid and delusional behavior.

My family has a lineage in the US for at least 16 or more generations, with the previous 5 generations of males on my father's side being active servicemen serving in Vietnam, both theaters of WWII, WWI and numerous conflicts throughout our nation's history. I have always been proud of my country but I am ashamed of my government and the current trends intended to keep us "safe" from terror. As an active cynic I can pretty much assume anytime the alphabet agencies (DHS, TSA, IRS, FBI, insert your own personal favorite here) declare "War" on anything it is more or less a way to infringe upon the rights of many.

I lost a personal childhood friend on 9/11 so to imply I have no respect or am trivializing the lost lives is quite insulting and ignorant. It's strawman argument at best. I would never disrespect his memory by walking around like a paranoid delusional freak, always thinking someone is lying in wait to slip a bomb inside my bag when I'm inside the airport. Ridiculous.

We have been lied to for years and told that cave dwelling fundamentalist hate us because of our "freedom." I guess thats why every time I leave the country and return I feel as if the Iron Curtain came down upon deplaning. Face the facts, we have one of the most restrictive police states in the world, the highest prison population in the world, highest number of arrest, etc. We are trained via the government and media to believe everyone is a potential terrorist, pedophile, rapist, thief, etc. Every time something tragic happens we are bombarded with it on idiot tube (think Nancy Grace, Geraldo, etc.) and the sheep are feverish in their support of new laws that will restrict the rights of everyone. How many people spoke out when "Patriot Act" was slid under the radar? And all of this is to keep us "Safe"??? Don't make me laugh.

Does this sound like "freedom" to you?

Its ironic, I randomly watched that one day. I didn't know what it was but I thought it was sooooo cool the kid got to sit at the controls and I wished I got to do that as a kid.......then the plane crashed.

Yeah... nothing like your civil right to enter the cockpit of an airliner in flight

If invited by the crew, and in accordance with their company operations, what's the big deal?

Of course everyone who doesn't agree with you is "bashing the USA" and is blind to boot! Funny.

Perhaps you might be blind to the point of view that such paranoia might just could be the manifestation of a peculiar kind of cowardice and over compensation known as jumping at shadows.

Anyway, hairy chested pilots with guns can always keep the kids covered - safety off, one in the chamber, of course. That way if any of the little terrorists tries to make a move, he/she can blow a hole in the skin of the plane.

Well, to begin with...US airspace is sovereign and one of the few legitimate functions of government is to protect it's citizens, including controlling what goes on in it's airspace. Efforts to secure the flight deck of passenger aircraft transiting US airspace is not colonialism run a muck, it is the keystone to insuring that hijackers don't get access to the flight deck.

With all the inane government policies we have to put up with, how can you possibly have a problem with such a rational restriction?

*Teacher49 did not make all those comments, I merely replied to his post.

That is known as a false dichotomy.

Because government has a predilection to expand unless that expansion is resisted.

Whether this restriction is rational or irrational is the subject of discussion and not subject to edict from by you, really.

I find it quite objectionable to have so many statements not made by me prominently attributed to me by you even if your attribution is corrected much less prominently below.

Please change your post.

I've been on some flights with some kids I'd have gladly sacrificed.....er, I mean, granted.......to such a program.

The FAA could make such a rule, but the likelihood of it being enforced is slim. Someone could file a complaint after landing, then the FAA would investigate and possibly levy a fine against that carrier.

It kind of sucks that my friend's friend is no longer flying the SQ A340 to the US, otherwise I would have had a nice ride up in the flight deck for his flight shift.