Reply #14: On airplanes in the Muslim world. . . [View All]

[matt819]

the pilot will often say, "insh'allah (god willing) we shall soon be landing."
Fair enough. Different culture, etc. I don't know about you though, I don't want god involved in any part of my landing. I want a trained pilot on a sound aircraft.

But, really, with our very own fundies you can't win. There was an incredible incident on Air Canada or Canadian Airlines about 20 years ago. The airline had just switched some of its aircraft to Airbus, and there was some confusion over the meaning of a particular reading (and that device wasn't working fully anyway). In any case, they didn't put enough fuel on the plane. So, midway across Canada, they run out of gas. It turns out the pilot was also an experienced glider pilot in his spare time, and so he glided this airbus to a landing at an abandoned airstrip. I call that some dynamite flying and that pilot a hero.

You can't win with our own taliban (the christiban?). They would call it a miracle and say that god put that pilot on that plane (overlooking the further conclusion that their god shortchanged them on the fuel as well).