[canucklad]

Well Charles-P, 7 days ago I would have said yes, it’s an over reaction. However if you deem Eastern Ukrainian airspace a conflict zone, you must surely also tag Israel with the same status.

And, I’m not willing to become political on here, but it might just focus all the parties involved to stop innocents from prematurely going to the grave !

[SimonS1]

A no win situation really.

If you suspend flights it’s called paranoid and an over-reaction. However in the event that the rocket landed a mile closer, or someone went maverick and fired at a passing plane, people would be slating the airlines saying they didn’t learn from the Ukraine saga and heed the warnings.

I suspect that whilst it’s easy to sit behind a computer screen and call the shots, it’s a bit less so to be the one to review the facts and make the decision.

[TheRealBabushka]

And about time too don’t you agree?
God bless the United States!

[Charles-P]

It’s probably best to avoid a discussion of the Israeli / Palestinian situation as I doubt we will be solving it here !

I still believe that this is politically motivated rather than the result of a genuine safety concern. The Ukrainian situation was a one off and I challenge anybody to have expected the shooting down of an airliner at 36,000 ft via a sophisticated air defence missile system that required a highly trained crew to make a number of deliberate decisions.

If the US is so concerned about airlines afety in conflict zones why are they still flying into the most obvious one – Kabul ?

[Swissdiver]

Delta took its decision before the FAA. So it is hardly political. Then once an airline made such an assessment, I guess the FAA can only follow, especially after MH shooting in Ukraine.

[Charles-P]

‘Swissdiver’ in my opinion Delta is just as open to political pressure as the FAA or any other US registered airline.

[SimonS1]

Exactly Charles. How difficult it is to predict the unexpected.

If 2 weeks ago airlines had publicly cancelled or rerouted flights to avoid over-flying Ukraine you would no doubt have said they were overreacting as there was no way a bunch of rebels would have downed a 777 flying at 36,000 feet. Turns out of course that some airlines (eg Cathay) had been re-routing for some time.

We just don’t know what information the FAA have that has caused them to give the instruction, particularly since as you say there are other war zones around. Better to be safe than sorry, though.

[superchris]

As alluded to by SimonS1 here, I think int he aftermath of MH17 airlines (guided by their insurers no doubt) will now by hyper cautious on such issues.

[Charles-P]

“Better to be safe than sorry, though”

Well in theory yes but in practice no. Risk against reward is a balance that humans undertake every day and I grow tired of hearing people in the transportation industry talk about “safety being paramount” when it is nothing of the sort. If safety really was paramount then humans would abandon the practice of stepping into a small highly stressed thin aluminium tube surrounded by thousands of gallons of highly volatile liquid and then hurtling through the un-breathable atmosphere at galactic velocities !

The risks to air travel associated with a Hamas rocket landing a mile away from Tel Aviv probably have the same statistical risk as the drive to Heathrow in a car at rush hour.

In the past nine days two people have been killed as a result of Hamas rockets, in the same period four people were killed on the roads of Israel in traffic accidents.

[Poshgirl58]

BBC News website just announced that John Kerry has landed at Ben Gurion.

[BigDog.]

@Poshgirl58 – 23/07/2014 09:54 GMT

Not sure what your point is. Politicians (and “celebrities”) frequently fly into trouble spots to add their pennies worth towards resolution. This is totally different from scheduled passenger airliners flying in.

Charles – the statistical risk may be low, however it is not individual it is a dense group of around 300?. The impact of an adverse roll of the dice (rocket hitting a fuelled airliner or taking a huge divot out of the runway as it lands) though remote would be huge.

[Swissdiver]

And Kerry’s plane has features a commercial airliner doesn’t have…

Thinking it is political stands in my view for a conspiracy theory.

[Charles-P]

‘BigDog.’ Risk is risk and we humans are very poor at understanding and assessing it.

The number one killer of US children for many years was domestic swimming pools and yet the average American still thinks its guns that in reality kill very few however they do it will a lot more publicity and public interest, just like a passenger plane being blown out of the sky.

I will be flying into Tel Aviv in around a week’s time and I’m not giving it a second thought, I will however be concerned about the Seniors rugby game I am playing at the end of this year, that is a risk.

[BigDog.]

I agree Charles, assessment of risk is random – you can buy a Gun in the US but not a Kinder Egg or Haggis.

I too hope to be visiting Tel Aviv in October and likewise was happy to take the risk visiting Bangkok. However quite often it is our choice, I believe the airlines though should be far more cautious.

Credit to ML for offering full refunds to any booked passenger who has subsequently viewed ML as too risky and wished to cancel their booking.

Sometime carriers get it wrong, and it can then go horribly wrong, not only ML17 – 25 years ago when AF and other carriers stopped going into Kuwait BA149 (coincidently en-route to KL) landed there with horrific consequences….

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/the-strange-flight-of-ba-149-why-did-no-one-prevent-a-british-airways-flight-into-kuwait-after-the-invasion-began-andrew-marshall-on-a-riddle-that-wont-go-away-1537655.html

[Charles-P]

Speaking as someone who has more than once stepped barefoot on the annoying plastic toys inside Kinder eggs I applaud and support the US decision to ban them.

[Author]

Posts