[cityprofessional]

This is really sad news. And I really feel for MAS, as they are having such a bad run of things. A few minutes later, and it would have been the SQ flight that was flying directly behind

As for the posters who’ve said “civilian airlines overflying any active war/insurrection zones is plainly irresponsible”, let’s be clear that civilian airliners overfly war zones all the time (Afghanistan and Iraq, anyone?). It’s all very well to say that airlines like QF, DL and CA were already avoiding the corridor, but (a) it isn’t a direct route for any of their flights anyway, and (b) this was an internationally approved safe air corridor, so MH was only following international guidelines. There were SQ and TG flights in the vicinity at the time of the incident – it’s the most obvious route from Europe to SE Asia (well, you could overfly Syria instead, I suppose?)

[canucklad]

John ….. thanks for sharing your very sad news…..your post brings it much closer to home . Your comment reminds me that the victims were just ordinary people with all the aspirations that are in all our souls.

The danger of just watching Sky, RT, or Al Jazeera is you eventually become desensitized to these horrific massacre’s.

The Westgate attack only really hit me after I found out a nephew of my step mum was a victim. …..

So once again many thanks for sharing your grief. …

[Poshgirl58]

cityprofessional, or the Air India Delhi to Birmingham which I understand was also in the area. Flying over war zones happens all the time, just take a look at Flightradar24 for Afghanistan.

rferguson +1. There’s also the male FA who swopped with a colleague and the twist of fate that his wife had swopped when rostered on MH370.

If the horror of this can get any worse, the Daily Mail have published pictures of some of the passengers. Three children (12, 10 & 8) travelling with their grandfather. It’s very upsetting even when they are all strangers to you.

[PeterCoultas]

Citypro: Granted avoiding war zones (MidEast etc) is currently a problem but I still feel calling them “approved safe corridors” unnecessarily allows extra risk in exchange for lower fuel burn – only flights to the war zones themselves need take these risks.

Think of the cost of changes in airport staffing to give doubtful safety improvements by policing drinks, shoes, mobile phones, cameras & laptops. There will always be some risk but changes to safety regulation should, where possible, at least be thought through in advance.

Awful for the MH crews as well as the passengers – this airline is, for me, one of the nicest carriers with always helpful staff and recent disasters are unlikely to put me off flying with them – the events were not reasonably in their control.

[LuganoPirate]

Graham / SiteAdmin.
I wonder if the title to my thread can be edited to remove “according to Bloomberg”? We know it happened now which when I posted shortly after the incident we were still unsure.

Regarding SQ being just behind, it seems an EK 380 was just in front as was an Etihad aircraft.

I also read that US airlines have been avoiding that airspace since April! Why did Eurocontrol not shut it completely?

[cityprofessional]

@Peter. It really shouldn’t be up to the airline to work out what is and isn’t a warzone. They operate in accordance to guidelines set by ICAO, so if there proves to be an issue, then it’s really their fault, not MH/SQ/TG/LH/AI’s

@Lugano. It’s not that hard for US airlines to avoid that area, as none of them fly between Europe and SE Asia

[PeterCoultas]

Citypro: entirely agreed, not the airlines fault in any way

[LuganoPirate]

Fair point CityPro. Maybe it’s meant for the likes of UPS etc.

I quote here from that font of all wisdom, the DM.

In response to warnings, American flights had been banned from flying over Ukraine, but European and Asian carriers were still operating in the area.

[nmh1204]

According to the BBC, airspace 32,000ft and below was closed.
Why were airlines still flying above closed airspace? It may have been safe, but 1000 feet isn’t a great distance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28357880

[seasonedtraveller]

Landing at YYZ yesterday, from LHR, we pulled up at a stand next to an MH aircraft recently landed which somehow made the news from that morning even more real.

Very, very sad news indeed – nothing more to add.

[canucklad]

I awaken today and switch on Sky News and quickly find my Sunday normally lethargic dull thud thud brain has turned into a finely tuned focused rage……

Am I only one who is now getting very angry at the toothlessness of our leaders who are letting barbaric thugs desecrate a murder site?

Stop the yikkkety yak and force the issue !

[SimonS1]

What would you suggest they do, Canucklad?

[openfly]

It was heartening to see, on the BBC, reports that BA had been avoiding the area for some days…they had got hold of some Flightracker recordings to prove the point. They also showed that Virgin, Lufthansa and lots of others continued to use Ukraine upper airspace until the fateful moment.

I feel not only sorry for the people killed, but the thousands of family and relatives. I also feel sorry for MAS. They don’t deserve all this negativity. How good it was to see Simon Calder on the BBC yesterday extolling the virtues of MAS and stating that he would quite happily fly on the next flight from London. Me too….

[canucklad]

With no intention of trivializing this tragedy Simon, this is a serious thought….And let’s call a spade a spade…..We the civilized world ,find ourselves playing a game I’ll call PutinPoker And .it’s time to raise and call!

The barbaric murderous ********** claim no missiles were fired.. FINE …

Accept their pathetic innocence…..It’s a Boeing plane….it’s an aircraft that’s has over 1000 sister craft still in the air…. therefore it’s imperative
that the experts from Seattle investigate…….with if required,, requested from the country where the plane crashed, elite military protection from the experts home country as they painfully look for clues as to how it dropped from the sky….

And I offer no apologies for being.angry…. most of the tragic souls held EEC passports and lost their future on EUROPEAN soil yet their relatives have to suffer the indignity of seeing masked gun wielding thug bullies holding court …knowing their paymaster protects them from afar…..And our politicians,across Europe don’t want to provoke a dangerous bear… PATHETIC TOOTHLESS LEADERSHIP.

[SimonS1]

Yes Canucklad I get all that. A serious event, happened on European soil, people need to investigate, people are angry etc. I don’t think anyone wants to see things trivialised.

However I asked you what you would do.

[Author]

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