Here is what an old friend, HXXXX, wrote to say:
"Your Keep them Grounded is, I think, grossly unfair. I cannot agree with your view that they shouldn't fly again.
As I see it, it was basically not their fault - it wasn't as if they were patently careless or incompetent.
They took a decision to go ahead with takeoff which turned out to be a bad one, yes.
But then my heretic self tells me that God took a poor decision too! He decided to visit bad weather at the airport where the whole thing was in a mess.
Of course, we can't agitate for God to be grounded. The airport people are the ones to blame but they weren't.
I can't help but wonder sometimes what various feelings people will take if those two pilots had died in the crash.
Five will get you 10 most will think they were heroes (cos many survived and we can always get some statement on how brave they were) and they died because of the mistakes of others. Right?
Then again, all blame could also be heaped on them since they are already dead.
No, they should have got the full support of everyone to continue to fly and to be retained.
The airline association is backing them and as a mere observer I find it interesting that at this very stage it should be embroiled in a dispute with SIA over some pilot seat benefit or whatever!
Also, if the guy was a Singapore CITIZEN would SIA have dismissed him? Maybe, maybe not.
I think not. I dont know about the 2nd pilot... not reported what nationality but I suspect he's not Singaporean too.

I don't know why SIA sacked the two SQ006 pilots but whatever the reason, it's good to know that they won't be commanding any more SQ flights.
It's not that I blame them for the crash. My thoughts and sympathies were with them right from the start. I had prayed for their vindication and was delighted when they got no more than slap on their wrist from the wretched Taiwanese.
But I had also stated in an earlier post (see below) that I won't like to see them flying again.
This view doesn't contradict my firm belief that they were victims of a lousy airport, as were their passengers.
I also know all about people who fall off bicycles or horses needing to get back on again, to regain their confidence.
The critical difference about riders who fall off getting back on their steeds (2-wheel and 4-wheel kinds) is that unlike a pilot, they can hurt only themselves should they suddenly lose their nerves again.
Not the pilots of SQ006. Imagine, if in the midst of flying a 747, they are suddenly attacked by the raw pain of their uneviable experience and flunk whatever they are doing? That would not be fair to those on that particular flight.
I understand and sympathise with Cyrano (one of the pilots) who wished aloud in the newspapers that all he wanted was to be back where he was before the crash.
I am sure so would the 87 who died in the crash, the many maimed by it and all their families. Alas, their wish will not be granted. Sure, it's not fair. The crash was no fault of theirs.
Sure, it's not fair to the pilots, should they be deprived from flying again. The crash was no fault of theirs, either, mostly.
Then again, the Bible teaches us that life isn't about fairness with the famous line "the rain falls equally on the just and the unjust".
Hopefully, the two pilots would have learned enough about the human condition after their baptism of fire and be strong and pick up the pieces and move on. After all, they at least have their lives and their physical health intact.
SIA can help by giving them another job on the ground.
Hopefully, public pressure and sympathy won't push the Government into doing something for them that might not be in the public interest: such as allowing them to fly again.

=============================================================== May 26, 2002: It's my birthday today. Another year. My wish is to have at least 30 more, in sound physical and mental health, happy and surrounded by happy events and people, most times. My wish is that if i can't be happy all the time as a result of self-generated or external generated causes, I would have enough courage to face unhappy things with fortitude and optimism. Good things may not last forever, but please, please let lousy things pass even faster for me.
Thanks to all those who have gone out of their way to make this day special for me: E Sim; Nelly; Quek; Han; TC; mother, sister, brother-in-law and nephew.
And I'm mighty pleased that this blatant advertising about my birthday has snared a new greeting: this time from Pei whose picture of dancing daffodils has created a golden glow for me, just what's needed to block out any post-birthday blues. Let me share the sight with you:

....A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
.......when on my couch I lie
In vacant and in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

===============================================================

It's not Mad Cow disease which put me off beef. And it's not animal rights or the cruelty of modern day farming. Neither was it a visit to Lincoln, Nebraska which included a trip to an American abbatoir that put me off steak. The story is more complicated and it's probably more to do with the beef in me than about beef. more

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"It was an eventful weekend. I can't believe it myself either. It is hard to look back and remember everything that happened. So fast. So swift. And no chance to turn back." more

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Please No! I won't like to see the 3 SIA pilots of SQ006 -- going back to Taiwan -- or flying again. Not even if they are not responsible, even partly, for the crash.
I know all about getting the man who fell off the horse to ride again. To help him conquer his fear and get on with his life.
But if the pilots are to fly again, it's not just a question of helping them but of whether they are able to cope and if not, that would jeopardise the lives of those in their plane.
Would that be fair??
What happened to them at Taipei may not be fair. Nor was it fair to the 83 killed, the several injured, those who survived but who have to carry the experience of the crash all their lives and all family members of those on SQ006.
But life is sometimes, even often, about unfairness.
Let's support the pilots in retraining for another job, another career.
Let's not, out of pig-headed, misplaced sense of what is fair to the pilots, create more unfair circumstances for unknowing passengers of airlines in future.

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Will I want my nephews to die for Singapore?
If I'm honest, it's not easy to say "yes", (and its against convention to say "no") and I'm not even their mother.
For my sisters-in-law and my sister, it is a question that must affect them even more deeply.
No one, unless he/she is off his/her rocker, will want to see another living being die, even if it is to save their own lives.
Unless, their owns lives aren't worth living; and that's the irony and the contradiction!
When our own lives aren't worth living, we'll then stomach our men and women and even our own selves putting our lives on the line.

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Dr Mahathir, Prime Minister of Malaysia on Israel:
'For the Israelis, it is not an eye for an eye. It is a life for being hit by a stone.
They believe that by terrorising the terrorists they can stop the carnage.
But the suicide bombers consider themselves already dead and are on their way to heaven.
They are not likely to be deterred by the threat of death.
There is a great deal of bitterness and anger among Muslims and the impotence of Muslim countries to do anything to remedy the situation adds to this frustration and anger.
The Holocaust did not defeat the Jews and a second Holocaust with Arabs for victims will not defeat the Arabs either.
If we are serious about stopping terrorists, then we must stop both Palestinians and Israelis from mutual massacre.

Mr Apa-nama often talks a lot of nonsense where Singapre is concerned but what he says about Israel makes a lot of sense.
For me, who in my youth used to sympathise whole-heartedly with the Jews, this says a lot about what they have done in the past 37 years to turn me against them.

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He is restless.
He keeps looking for change
in new faces
in new places.
But how can anything be
different
when he brings
himself
wherever he goes?
The discontented can take himself
out of Singapore
but he can't take the discontent
out of himself.

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Investors complaining about the SGX refusal to reduce the board lots so that those with less money can have a shot at blue chips instead of being confined to risky penny stocks should stop wasting their breath.
The SGX daren't make such reduction for fear of incurring the wrath of the blue chips.
The blue chips probably don't want shareholders who for a few dollars' worth of investment actually think they own the company.
The blue chip boards don't want to have to feed them at meetings or respond to their demands for freebies and their parking fees reimbursed.
Not that I agree with how the blue chips view shareholders who attend meetings more for the feast than to learn about their company's future.
I'm merely reflecting the disdain which some directors barely conceal when they talk down to shareholders.
Don't believe me? Attend a company meeting and see and hear for yourself.

Pure Pebbles takes on a new look. Old stuff from yesteryears has been hived off to Ancient Runes mainly 'cos I can't sort out too many javascript errors. Whenever I'm tired of the present pebble on this page, I'll move it to Old Pebbles.