Tag Archives: Java Sea

International news

Soon, attention to turn to that other crash

You can rest assured about this: The moment the grief subsides somewhat over the loss of an AsiaAir jetliner in the Java Sea we’re going to turn our attention — once again — to the enduring mystery of Malaysia Air Flight 370.

AsiaAir Flight 8501’s wreckage was spotted almost immediately, as one would expect. The grim task of recovering victims and debris commenced. High-tech equipment will locate the black boxes soon on the sea floor to find evidence of what happened to the plane that crashed less than a week ago.

But … what about Malaysia Air Flight 370?

It disappeared after it took off on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Crews have found nothing. Not a trace of the Boeing 777 has been spotted anywhere. More than 200 souls are now presumed dead. But the families of those aboard have zero closure.

I continue to believe that MH 370 went into the drink somewhere in the vast Indian Ocean. The goofy conspiracy theories do not hold up. The plane wasn’t hijacked and flown to some lost island.

As for the other nutcase scenarios, not one of explains how a plane so large can disappear without a trace. Was it shot down by some government’s air force? No. Debris would be found, on land or in the water. And no government can keep a secret from a hyper-curious public.

The fate of one air disaster contrasting with the unsolved nature of the other, though, does cause one to wonder: What in the world happened to Malaysia Air Flight 370?

International news

Real-time pictures not necessary

Take a moment to look at the picture attached to the post linked to these brief comments.

The picture will tell you all you need to know why some images need not be broadcast in real time, live and as it is happening.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/live-images-of-the-airasia-8501-crash-crossed-a-line-of-common-decency.html/

Dallas Morning News blogger Jim Mitchell’s essay says it well. It’s as if someone goes up to a grieving family member and asks “How do you feel?” about losing someone they love.

Family members learned of the fate of those aboard AsiaAir Flight 8501 by watching live pictures of personnel recovering bodies from the Java Sea, where the plane crashed Sunday.

Mitchell writes: “It brings to mind 9/11, the most photographed real-time event in history, and the controversial ‘Falling Man’ photograph of a trapped World Trade Center worker plunging to his death from an upper floor. As I recall, the photo was published but for the most part was deemed too graphic and disturbing and has not appeared in U.S. newspapers (and probably television news) since then.”

Think for a moment how any of us would react if we are watching television and crews are possibly pulling your very own loved one from the water. Doesn’t the Golden Rule apply here, the one about doing onto others as you would have them do onto you?

Does anyone really need to see these images live, as they’re happening?

The answer, of course, is no.

 

International news

Air tragedy reaches a known conclusion

The families of another air tragedy are coming into my mind this morning as I learn that searchers are recovering victims and debris from a jetliner crash in the Java Sea.

AirAsia Flight 8501 went down over the weekend on a two-hour flight from Indonesia to Singapore. Bad weather was the culprit. It was an Airbus 320 and it crashed into the sea with a depth of just 150 feet.

Closure has arrived for the families of those who were lost. There will be no survivors.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/indonesia-says-debris-is-from-airasia-jet-1419922721?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

The other flight? It’s that Malaysian Air Flight 370 that vanished on March 8 somewhere over the Indian Ocean.

Searchers have found nothing, not a single piece of debris, not a single artifact from the Boeing 777 that disappeared from view. That flight was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It turned suddenly in another direction. Then it was gone. Just like that. Gone!

The speculation about where it went, what happened to it has been alternately desperate and insane.

It has produced some of the wildest theories heard since, oh, Amelia Earhart’s disappearance over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.

One tragedy has reached the conclusion everyone expected.

The other one has yet to be resolved. The pain of many anxious families continues.