I am a potential threat to humankind, and to Germany in particular.

It is another rainy Sunday, and instead of enjoying a lovely autumn hike in the mountains, I just sit around inside wasting time...

Maybe it's time to tell you something about a country called Germany. A country in which, one should think, people can live in peace and freedom without oppression and restrictions of personal liberty. Fact is that you should be careful to pick your favourite pastime...

I happen to belong to a (not so small) "minority" of people who have a private pilot licence. If you do, you are forced to apply for a so-called "Zuverlässigkeitsüberprüfung", meaning that the state will check if you are a "reliable person".

This is because Germany considers all private pilots to be potential terrorists.

If you fail to prove your reliabilty, you will lose your licence, it's as easy as that. How you prove you are reliable? By indicating where you have lived for the last ten years.

I know I may sometimes be a bit slow on the uptake - so can anyone please explain to me how this information, which the government could just as well get from the different registration offices, can possibly prevent terrorist attacks?

It is now the second time since the introduction of this "general suspicon" that I have to apply for the "ZuP" (yes, you have to apply yourself and kindly ask the authorities to check their files if you were naughty), and for the second time I had to join an angry letter. They even trace you down when you live abroad - they asked a colleague of mine why he didn't notifiy them when he changed houses within France (simply because in France you do not have to register). Unbelievable how they meddle with your private life.

How come drivers are not checked? Or everyone having a "BahnCard" (train discount card)? The last attacks planned in Germany were, as far as I have heard in the media, planned to be done by train or car...