Am 08.04.2015 um 14:00 schrieb Stephen:
> On 08/04/2015 02:02, clipka wrote:

>> If karma had allowed something like this to happen to a German plane at
>> all, it would have required the pilot to go the extra mile out of the
>> cockpit and straight into the engine, to cripple the plane for good.
>> That would have turned this eccentric Brit-ish incident into a proper
>> solid German-ish tragedy.
>
> Tut, tut. You're too harsh in your national stereotyping.
> I think that if it had been a proper German plane. The captain would
> have been hauled back in tout de suite, to sign the forms for leave of
> absence. :-P

Or that, maybe.

On an American plane, they'd probably have let him go, and fired him for 
leaving his workplace.

And in Russia the pilot would have safely landed the cockpit window, 
while the rest of the plane would have fallen out of the sky like a 
brick; because as we all know, in Russia you don't leave the plane - the 
plane leaves you.

> If it had been a Scottish plane. The steward would have been handing out
> free whisky and selling tickets to tour the cockpit. ;-)

>> (You know, like, German planes don't get lost. If we have a suicidal
>> pilot in the cockpit, the plane doesn't mysteriously disappear over some
>> vast ocean never to be found again; it just slams into the next best
>> mountain, with ample evidence available as to what happened.
>
> It was a blessing, in a way.

I guess I just need the comic relief of making some jokes about air 
crashes these days. As you may know, among the GermanWings passengers 
were a bunch of German school children and teachers; it so happens that 
they were from the town I was born in. Not that I have any other 
relation to the victims (I grew up in a different town), but still the 
event seems to have gotten to me more than it would normally have. And 
the fact that I know what it's like to suffer from depression 
(fortunately without any suicidal tendencies) doesn't help either.

>> And of course France is involved in some way, too.)
>
> Can't you ever forget the war? :-P

Which of those many? ;)

Heck, there have been quarrels near the Rhine as early as 2000 years ago 
- the Romans didn't build the Limes for nothing :)
It seems quite a miracle we've been living peacefully alongside our 
western neighbors for about 65 years now and counting.

Even so, the relationship to France is something special. When we don't 
hate them, we seem to totally love them.

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