Hello everyone. I had my usual Skype chat with my family in Singapore over the weekend and one of the topics we touched upon was the fate of MH370 - the Malaysian Airlines flight that is presumed to have crashed somewhere in the South China Sea south of Vietnam. It is extremely distressing, upsetting and sad to read about the accident and I have been following the news on BBC and Reuters all weekend, trying to get the latest updates. It is frustratingly slow and I guess like so many people, I just want to know what actually happened to that flight.
So when I was chatting with my family, one of the comments my parents made was something like, "better not fly MAS ever again, aiyoh, so unsafe, better fly with SIA or Silk Air." That's a knee jerk reaction to this story - I don't think any airline is completely safe. Allow me just to make two simple points here as I believe there are many out there who would have come up with a statement similar to the one my parents have made.
Firstly, even the world's best airlines have had accidents which have resulted in fatalities. Singapore Airlines have not had a perfect record, there was that tragic accident at Taipei airport in October 2000 when a botched take off on a closed runway resulted in 83 deaths. I also remember the tragic Silk Air Flight 185 in December 1997 which crashed in Sumatra, Indonesia - killing all 104 on board. Many other very reputable airlines like British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, JAL, United, American Airlines, KLM all have had fatal accidents over the years - so just because you pay more for an air ticket doesn't mean that you definitely won't crash. You pay more for many reasons: flying direct, a more convenient take off time (say 12 noon instead of 6:15 am), a better service, a better inflight entertainment system, better customer service before and after the flight, better food, more baggage allowance - these are all the perks that come with the better airlines, but no one can guarantee that you won't crash just because you are paying more.
In fact, the ultimate in flying luxury used to be the Concorde which could potentially get you from New York to London under 3 hours (average flight times for that same route with other planes take about 7 to 8 hours). You would have to pay a lot more to fly Concorde compared to the other planes that made the same journey. However, this all ended in terrible tragedy in July 2000 when Concorde Air France flight 4590 crashed on take off at CDG Paris airport, resulting in 113 fatalities - this accident eventually led to the retirement of the Concorde fleet three years later. Let me make a comparison to car accidents: you may buy a more expensive car and enjoy the pleasures of driving around in a much nicer car, but there are so many factors that affect your safety when you are on the road. You are never 100% safe, even in an extremely expensive car - so your money cannot guarantee your safety, nothing can.
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| That's me boarding a flight in Oman last year |
Secondly, MH370 is a Boeing 777 aircraft - in fact, Boeing makes aeroplanes for many of the world's airlines, together with other aircraft manufacturers like Airbus, Bombardier, McDonell-Douglas and Embraer. Boeing supplies many other airlines like All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, United, British Airways, Royal Brunei, Air Canada and Emirates just to name a few - they are all using the planes as supplied by Boeing. Okay, you can talk about having well trained pilots and keeping the planes well maintained to ensure flight safety - but in this day and age, most airlines maintain extremely high standards and I might be a bit nervous taking a budget airline in some third world country, but otherwise the aircraft manufacturing industry is dominated by very few players.
So even the budget airlines are purchasing their planes from the same manufacturers, they slash their costs by taking the unearthly 6 am take off slots, charging you extra for checking in luggage, making you pay for food and drink onboard and flying you from/to inconvenient airports rather far away from the destination city. Geez, have you guys ever tried to get to London Stansted or London Luton airport for a 6 am flight - it's a logistical nightmare! They are not, however, using a plane that is a cheap knock-off made in some dodgy factory in Africa. Easyjet - a European budget airline otherwise known as Sleazyjet as the service is so bloody awful - also uses Boeing aircrafts, just like British Airways. So it is not the aircraft that is to be blamed - let's not speculate on the cause of the crash.
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| How safe do you think your favourite airlines are? |
What happened to MH370 is undeniably sad and extremely tragic and my heart goes out to all of those friends and family waiting at KL and Beijing airport for further news. However, let's not start labeling Malaysian Airlines as an 'unsafe' airline' - that is hardly a rational reaction to what has happened. We won't know what actually happened for a while yet. This could have potentially happened to any other flights that are in the air right now, in this very moment. It is a small risk that we accept that we have to take when we choose to fly. I guess I choose not to even think about it when I do fly - otherwise we'll just get paranoid about everything in life.
On my way home from the gym tonight, this van nearly hit me. The driver was coming around the corner way too fast and mounted the kerb. I was walking along the pavement and given how fast that van was going, I had very little time to react. I was staring at the van coming straight at me, on the pavement. Thankfully, the driver managed to regain control of the vehicle just in time but it was way too close for comfort. I stopped there for a moment, looking at where the van was and thought how close I was to getting run over, how I was one second away from certain death. I know it is a morbid thought, but if you died today, is there anything you wish you would have done before that moment came?
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| Have you ever had a near death experience? |
I feel like I have been given a second chance by whatever being or entity that made that van miss me despite having mounted the pavement I was standing on. I feel I have the rest of my life to go on and do all those things I really want to do - those poor people on MH370 will probably never get that chance. So dear readers, don't wait till a near death experience or witnessing the death of someone dear to you before you realize just how precious your time on earth is. If there's something you've always wanted to do - then wait no longer, just bloody get on with it as soon as possible!
As usual, please feel free to let me know your thoughts and leave a comment below. Thank you for reading.
