JANUARY 1 — Debris of Indonesia AirAsia QZ8501 flight was finally found three days after it was reported to have lost contact. The tragedy shocked the people, while triggering many questions about flight safety.
Are there unknown worries in the aviation industry? Is travelling by air still the safest means of transport? After the disappearance of MH370 flight, why all so-called cutting-edge technologies, including a few hundreds of satellites operating and monitoring in the orbit, still failed to detect the QZ8501?
Aviation experts might be able to find a thousand of reasons and explanations for these questions, they might also be able to provide various measures to improve the problem or prevent its recurrence. But the key question is, is the problem being taken seriously by the aviation industry, as well as world governments?
The disappearance of MH370 exposed the vulnerabilities and deficiencies of many Southeast Asian countries in air traffic management, particularly the lack of coordination, with a serious problem of not willing to share information.
It urgently requires improvement. We do not know whether these countries have taken remedial actions and unfortunately, another flight lost contact and debris was found three days later.
The repeated incidents have highlighted the urgency of Southeast Asian countries to strengthen air traffic and crisis management. However, from making recommendations to implementation, it requires efforts to convince and achieve consensus.
Moreover, to establish a satellite system to monitor world flights will not only face technical difficulties, but it also involves various thorny problems like who should pay for it and who should manage it. It is easier said than done.
German independent aviation expert Heinrich Großbongardt said that what aviation tragedies involving Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flights taught us was, all people must strive to achieve a solution, namely trace flights with the help of satellites.
However, it requires two to three years to find a solution, implement it and ensure it is effective. And we are just a few months from the previous tragedy.
The Indonesia AirAsia flight crash this time has also led to another question, namely whether the expansion of aviation industry in Southeast Asian countries has gone too fast and whether there is a possibility that amidst the fierce market competition among low-cost carriers, management and services qualities have fallen and flight safety has been neglected?
AirAsia is known as the leader of low-cost carriers and it has just won the “World’s Leading Low Cost Airlines” award recently. The crash has caused the company’s reputation to plummet and its stock plunged, causing a loss of RM6.96 million in just a day.
The whole world is watching how AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is going to lead the company to resolve the crisis.
After the QZ8501 flight was reported to have lost contact, despite it was tiny, people still hoped and prayed for a miracle. However, following the official confirmation from Indonesian authorities that debris of the flight was found in Kalimantan waters, hopes are gone and hearts are broken.
At this very moment, we hope that kin of victims can stay strong, while AirAsia and authorities can identify the cause of the crash as soon as possible to give us an explanation, and truth!
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
