The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a PanAm 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747 (call sign "Speed bird 206") after landing:
Speedbird 206: "Top of the morning Frankfurt.Speed bird 206, clear of the active runway.
" Ground: "Guten morgen! You will taxi to your gate!"
The big British Airways 747 pulled onto the main taxi way and slowed to a stop.
Ground: "Speed bird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speed bird 206: "Stand by a moment ground. I'm looking up our gate location now."
Ground: With some arrogant impatience, "Speed bird 206, have you never flown to Frankfurt before?!"
Speed bird 206 (cooly): "Yes, I have, in 1944... But in a Lancaster.. I didn't stop."