Tag Archives: airline safety

national news

POTUS decides correctly to ground those jetliners

I’ve been thinking the past 24 hours about whether I would fly aboard a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

I would not.

One of those high-powered, high-tech jetliners went down in Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board. The tragedy forced much of the world to put the jets in service on the ground.

Today, Donald J. Trump joined them, announcing that the jets in service would take passengers to their destinations and then they would be sent to their hangars until further notice.

It’s the correct call.

Working with the Federal Aviation Administration, the president made the announcement and determined that there needs to be a full accounting for this crash, which mirrors a similar tragic accident that occurred just a few weeks ago.

Is there something wrong with the jet? Is there a flaw in its flight rigging, or its computer-guided system?

Ethiopian Airlines reportedly is a first-class air carrier. Its crews are competent. Thus, it appears that pilot error is unlikely as the cause for this tragedy.

I am not flying anywhere anytime soon. All I can declare at this moment is that if I were booked on one of those 737 jets, I would insist on getting on another type of aircraft.

Let’s learn the cause of this aviation tragedy.

International news

Yes, we need more flight regulations

S.E. Cupp never has struck me as being a wacky conservative.

Yet the commentator and pundit has written a piece that suggests the Germanwings air tragedy caused by the suicidal co-pilot does not require airline companies and governments to tighten regulations aboard these flights.

Umm, yes it does.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/04/no-lessons-about-regulation-from-the-germanwings-crash-think-again-s-e-cupp.html/

U.S. air carriers operate under much stricter rules than foreign carriers, as evidenced by the Germanwings tragedy that occurred when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the pilot out of the flight deck and then crashed the airplane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.

As Dallas Morning News blogger Tod Robberson writes: “Ever since the 9/11 attacks, the United States has led the world in measures to tighten airline security measures — often to the point that we’ve been ridiculed by the rest of the world for overregulating. U.S. regulations established the annoying procedures that require passengers to partially disrobe before they can enter airline gate areas. U.S. regulations banned the use of sharp metal objects like knives used for airline meals. U.S. regulations required the redesign and reinforcement of cockpit doors to prevent anyone from breaking in and taking over the plane and flying it into skyscrapers.”

Robberson’s blog post attached to this item is worth your time.

More regulations? Sure. Do they annoy us? Yes. Are they necessary to help prevent tragedies such as the Germanwings disaster? Absolutely.