My Dad was a pilot, and we'd often align a family vacation with one of his flights. There was no prouder moment as a young kid than being invited into the cockpit to "start the engines" after push-back. I vaguely remember pushing some button and Dad pointing out a moving dial in the cockpit. I vividly remember walking back to my seat feeling like the biggest kid in the world.

That kind of thing definitely wouldn't happen post 9/11.