Fear and hope over MH370
I have never rode a plane, and I have always wanted to, but for some time I was afraid to fly because of having watched too much “Air Crash Investigation”, a documentary program produced by National Geographic that sought to give light to some controversial aviation incidents, in my younger years.
The show was in itself interesting — it fed my curiosity and gave me the thrill of mystery-solving. And, there, I learned a thing or two about aircrafts; the most memorable and possibly the most important of which would be the use of the “black box”.
Aircrafts are installed with a black box that records all pertinent information of the flight, sometimes including even audio recordings from the cockpit. Air safety experts gather as much information as they can from the content of retrieved flight data recorders, and almost always start the probe from there.
That flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines, bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, lost radar contact since Saturday and, amid the joint efforts of ten countries, including the Philippines, for an expanded search, has yet to be found is baffling and downright eerie. As of this writing, we are still left with no clues as to the possible explanation of the disappearance of the airliner and no debris has yet been located.
Because no trace of the plane has been found and there have been two identified passengers aboard who used stolen passports, there are speculations circulating online from the probable — the possibility of a missile explosion or of a hijacking incident, which have been downplayed by the authorities though not necessarily dismissed — to the imaginative — such as alien abduction.
Had it been a terrorist attack, a group would have already claimed responsibility by now to project power and evoke fear over the nations of the world, but none so far. As well, it has been said that no technology exists yet that could turn the allegedly targeted aircraft into “smithereens”.
On a related note, @KaidenDL is reported to have missed the Malaysia flight. His Twitter post recalls the incident where he was at first angry about the sudden changes in his day’s plans when he had to pinchhit for a colleague who was sick. This anger eventually morphed into gratitude for the least expected turnabout where his life has been saved.
The MH370 plane incident finds no conclusion yet, and that something as terrible as a sudden and inexplicable vanish of an airliner carrying 239 lives makes us fearful. But, the thought that everything serves a purpose and that Someone Greater is in control of things, as evident in the account of Kaiden, somehow, still, makes us hopeful. •
The show was in itself interesting — it fed my curiosity and gave me the thrill of mystery-solving. And, there, I learned a thing or two about aircrafts; the most memorable and possibly the most important of which would be the use of the “black box”.
Aircrafts are installed with a black box that records all pertinent information of the flight, sometimes including even audio recordings from the cockpit. Air safety experts gather as much information as they can from the content of retrieved flight data recorders, and almost always start the probe from there.
That flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines, bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, lost radar contact since Saturday and, amid the joint efforts of ten countries, including the Philippines, for an expanded search, has yet to be found is baffling and downright eerie. As of this writing, we are still left with no clues as to the possible explanation of the disappearance of the airliner and no debris has yet been located.
Because no trace of the plane has been found and there have been two identified passengers aboard who used stolen passports, there are speculations circulating online from the probable — the possibility of a missile explosion or of a hijacking incident, which have been downplayed by the authorities though not necessarily dismissed — to the imaginative — such as alien abduction.
Had it been a terrorist attack, a group would have already claimed responsibility by now to project power and evoke fear over the nations of the world, but none so far. As well, it has been said that no technology exists yet that could turn the allegedly targeted aircraft into “smithereens”.
On a related note, @KaidenDL is reported to have missed the Malaysia flight. His Twitter post recalls the incident where he was at first angry about the sudden changes in his day’s plans when he had to pinchhit for a colleague who was sick. This anger eventually morphed into gratitude for the least expected turnabout where his life has been saved.
The MH370 plane incident finds no conclusion yet, and that something as terrible as a sudden and inexplicable vanish of an airliner carrying 239 lives makes us fearful. But, the thought that everything serves a purpose and that Someone Greater is in control of things, as evident in the account of Kaiden, somehow, still, makes us hopeful. •