Hey Cas:

Thanks for following up class with this information about Catch 22. I feel like this crash may be more relatable to the Germanwing's Flight 9525 in sense that that flight and it appears the book was about suicide by plane. Admittedly I have not read the book so I am not sure if it connects anymore than that (i.e. the pilot in catch 22 killed other passengers when he crashed to kill himself, there was more than the killing of his friends moments before that lead to his suicidal tendencies/act, etc.) Just some thoughts, again not sure how applicable since I haven't read the book.

-Charles

-- CharlesRoper - 02 Apr 2016

-- CasidheMcClone - 01 Apr 2016

Didn't do much research, but I did clear some stuff up.

The name of the pilot who flies Yossarian's plane, and one of Yossarian's better friends throughout the novel, is McWatt? . Not unlike Zaharie Shah, McWatt? is something of a composed problem solver; Yossarian struggles to comprehend how McWatt? stays sane during the war. Again, like Zaharie Shah, McWatt? is portrayed as a skillful pilot. Yossarian prefers to fly with him, believing it to be safer- I don't remember if this is because of his skill or a belief Yossarian has in McWatt? 's luck. I need to reread that book.

Anyways, during a joke (buzzing a beach in his plane), McWatt? accidentally kills another character named Kid Sampson with the plane's propeller (why is it always the kid?). After realizing he killed Kid, McWatt? banks the plane and flies it into a mountain. As he does so, he says his often repeated catch phrase: "Oh well, what the hell?"

If Zaharie Shah treated a joke somberly, McWatt? treated a somber maneuver jokingly.

Half of what's above is from memory, so if I made a mistake, please point it out!

-Cas

<--/commentPlugin-->