I find this phenomenon of people attacking one another on pprune every time there is a fatal accident quite fascinating. It is such a recurring theme that you can almost set your watch by it.
Why are you all so scared or upset about talking about the demise of fellow aviators? We are ALL going to die. It is the only thing that we all have in common.
I absolutely agree that we should not be talking names until the next of kin have been informed, but after that, what exactly is the problem?
Perhaps my 18 years in the RAF had something to do with my attitude to such events.
I was 19 years old when I first got involved in carrying coffins.
Our usual reaction was to repair to the bar when we had a fatal accident on the squadron and have a bl**dy good thrash. The attitude was "Bloggs was a great chap so let's get round to his room and nick his flying boots while we've got the chance".
I can imagine that a lot of you out there might find this a strange way of dealing with a fatality but it worked.
If one of your mates has died, then do his memory a service but let us not have these artificial outpourings of grief from people who have never met or would ever have met the poor b*gger who has just paid for his love of flying with his life.
To me, it seems quite incredible that it has taken this long for someone just to announce that the aircraft involved was a Nord 854.
Let us get real people, we are all headed for the great hangar in the sky so let's get a bit more objective about the inevitable.