Kirchenflieger

When I saw the news footage this morning of this recent auto accident in San Pedro, California, I remembered an even more spectacular crash in Germany in 2009 (pictured). A 23-year-old mechanic named David was driving an Octavia that he had borrowed from the Skoda center where he worked in nearby Chemnitz, Saxony. Although police did not say whether excessive speed and alcohol were factors, David lost control when he missed a bend in the road. The vehicle broke through a barrier and hurtled up a grassy bank that acted as a ski ramp. The car went airborne to a height of 11m and travelled 35m, crashing into the roof of the Limbach-Kändler Lutheran Church. David, bruised and with both legs broken, was rescued with a ladder truck and the car was extracted from the roof with a crane. Clergyman Andreas Voegler visited the driver in the hospital and introduced himself, “I am the minister whose church you 'visited'!” He received a smile and an apology in return. Luckily, the Skoda center's insurance covered the €70,000 worth of damage to the church roof. The memorable collision has a place in the church's on-line photo gallery, where David is referred to as the "church flyer."