Germany tends to paper over deficiencies by trotting out pompous officials in suits to say how well they're doing at everything, and woe betide anyone who dares say otherwise.

'trotting out pompous officials in suits', I mean.

And this, in Germany, which prides itself on its efficiency and capability, often with a rather supercilious cocked eyebrow at less 'orderly' nations.

Ah, hubris, does it know no bounds?

DFW. Wie gehts?

We have a circle of friends who are just normal, regular people. But there are still many who have inherited the old Prussian superiority complex, with an "Ordnung muss sein (there must be order)" view of the world, and only care about the appearance of order. They may be right that most other nations are less "orderly," but that doesn't give them the right to prance about saying that their self-granted image of perfection is accurate when they're as fallible as anyone else. Plenty of Germans do NOT have this attitude, but hubris does abound, unfortunately.

Heute geht's gut, danke. Morgen, wer weiß?

Morgen wird für sich selbst sorgen!

I don't really know this much German--but Google does! LOL!

And unfortunately, all it takes is a few of the pompous assholes in positions of power to royally screw things up for the rest of us.

As for pompous assholes in positions of power, that has been the bane of mankind since before the Roman Emperors. It is disheartening to see that as a species, we haven't learned much in the meantime. If the Republicans ran a ticket of Sarah Pailn and Michele Bachmann in 2016, they'd get 40% of the vote no matter what.

I find no difference between Germans and their hubris as compared to other Europeans and theirs. As a matter of fact, if I were hard pressed to choose who is worse, I'd have to say - from personal experience - that the Brits lead the charge, followed by the French, with the Germans making up the meek and cowed tail end of the queue. We were taught (and taught well) by the rest of Europe not to put on any airs, lest we wanted to be labeled Nazis.

I find that those Germans who have traveled widely tend to be able to throw off this natural tendency. The stigma of being labeled a Nazi just for being German (this was in Italy) is something even my daughter has had to suffer, and she was born in 1983. The Brits and the French have not had this national stigma to contend with, and are maybe less self-conscious when they demonstrate pride (those that do, that is). But those Germans who do exhibit arrogance come across as especially abhorrent, probably precisely because there is such a concrete precedent that other cultures don't have hanging over their heads. Believe me, there are still plenty of them, too.

I've been sidetracked by work, but the last I'd read the reason for the "not fit for work" notes was that he had detached retina(s) with possibly significant vision loss.

of his suicidal tendencies.

Googled 'suicide methods' and 'door locking mechanism on A320' just the day before the crash.

I've no doubt there will be those who suggest that 'someone' should have spotted these suicidal online searches, and of course there will be plenty on the other side citing privacy concerns, I don't pretend to have an answer for this. I do believe the requirement to have 2 crewmembers in the cockpit at all times is a good common sense approach that probably would have prevented this tragedy.

I've tried to talk about 'the individual's right to mental health privacy' vs. 'the greater good of the travelling public' several times around here.

But, the outraged reaction from the hyper-sensitive mental health group has really discouraged me.

I would expect mandatory vision checks as a licensing requirement, and loss of vision to require mandatory reporting.

But, don't say that too loud my friend, or you'll have the 'health privacy possy' down on you.

DO NOT say those words: mandatory reporting!

So there's no reason not to have mandatory reporting to the same authorities if somebody loses their vision, even if it's temporary. It's no more an invasion of privacy than the annual testing.

Crazy, but true. I get the impression that the 'anti-monitoring' minons may be libertarians. Privacy and individual 'fredum' trump all else.

To fly for a scheduled airline one needs an ATP license and a First Class medical certificate. To maintain the medical certificate you have to undergo a physical INCLUDING EYE EXAM every 6 months. And there ARE self-reporting requirements for any condition which could make you unfit to fly.

Nobody should be "self-reporting" their vision or other medical situations that render them unfit to drive...or fly.