What’s Crazier?

Don't worry folks, you're safe

The fact that this guy was able to contiue working until he voluntarily resigned, or the fact that he resigned in 1982 and we are just hearing about this?

A jumbo jet pilot has told how he repeatedly had overwhelming urges to crash the planes he was flying. Bryan Griffin said that once he even had to ‘immobilise’ his arm to prevent him trying to down a Qantas passenger jet. His hand had ‘involuntarily moved towards the start levers’ on the journey to Singapore. The compulsion to cut out the engines was so strong, he had to leave the flight deck and did not return until he had calmed down. The pilot revealed during a compensation hearing how he was also afflicted by urges to scream and cry, ignored instructions, and repeatedly missed radio and altitude calls.

Um, I’m no airplaneologist but I’m guessing that when a pilot has the urge to crash the very thing he has been trained to keep intact, he might be underqualified for the job. If you owned an ice cream store and in your employ was a man who told you that his compulsion to NOT serve ice cream was strong that he would have to leave the store and take walks to gather himself, then I think you are entitled to let him off the payroll.

But despite his health problems and seeing several doctors he was declared fit and kept on flying. Mr Griffin said he fought the destructive urges to switch off his plane’s engines for three years.

Parole Borad: Mr. John Doe, are you ready to re-enter society?
John Doe: Ready to re-enter and society and chop people up!
Parole Board: Ok, sounds good. Parole granted!

The company also failed to consider ‘the danger which he brought to passengers and the public generally, should he have crashed an aircraft’.

That’s a soft way to put it. Danger. Not the kind of danger of flying through heavy turbulence. It’s the kind of danger that happens when you slam 900,000 lbs of metal and 50,000 gallons of jet fuel into the earth at 600 mph.

The psychiatrist concluded Mr Griffin should have been medically retired when he was suffering his acute problems. The Workers Compensation Commission found that the pilot’s condition had been worsened by continuing to work for Qantas until he resigned in 1982. The panel ordered the airline to pay £97,000 compensation for loss of earnings plus Mr Griffin’s medical and legal costs.

Whoever says that legal justice takes 30 years, is dead wrong.