The program allows controllers to fly in the cockpit "jump seat" of commercial jets so they can become acquainted with the pilots' workloads and responsibilities, and ultimately become better at their own.
Prosecutors said the gate agent saw the defendant sitting in the jumpseat behind the pilot and told him that if he was going to sit there he would have to go back to the check-in gate to complete paperwork and verifications.
If the British machine is sceptical about Euro-dreams of bestriding a multipolar world, that is because it has a jump-seat view of American might and of the money and unity of purpose required to make it work.