3 air traffic disasters in 8 days: IATA must come up with strict actions instead of mere statements to save travel industry from total disaster

3 air traffic disasters in 8 days: IATA must come up with strict actions instead of mere statements to save travel industry from total disaster

3 air traffic accidents in 8 days a grave situation in skies

By Agha Iqrar Haroon

3 air traffic disasters in 8 days–Oh My God. Two air disasters in less than 24 hours. Three air traffic disasters in eight days killing 466 persons have dented international air travel and tourism industry. People are losing faith over air travel. All three disasters took place in three different continents—First in Europe (Eastern Ukraine), second in Asia (Taiwan) and not today in Africa (Mali). 3 air traffic disasters in 8 days indicates “Something is wrong some where but we need to know what is wrong and where it is wrong?
The possible reason of two crashes Flight GE222 and Flight AH222 is bad weather—very bad weather actually. TransAsia Airways aircraft ATR-72 flying as Flight# GE222 crashed on July 24 while landing in Penghu Taiwan. This was a 72-seater plane and was carrying 54 passenger including four children. This was a brand new ATR-72 having its first flight just four month back on April 8, 2014. Air travel industry confirmed that Weather was very bad at airport. Heavy rain and winds were all over the area and ill-fated Flight proceeded to landing strip twice but could not land. Weather was so bad that Flight delayed for almost hours because radar system warned that weather is bad at destination. The flight was scheduled at 4pm, but was delayed to 5.43pm due to the typhoon. Airline could have cancelled the flight because of very bad weather at Penghu and the decision of flying in bad weather from Kaoxiong was not desirable. Captain of ill-fated flight tried for landing but failed due to heavy winds and then again he took second try for landing and control tower gave OK to captain but subsequently captain lost contact with the control tower. It crashed in the vicinity of air trip that indicates strong winds played havoc with plane and captain could not fight with nature. The plane was found crashed near the village of Xicun, close to airport strip and local residents saw flames around the plane.
It was another disaster for air travel and tourism industry after MH17 disaster that took place on July 17—just seven days before GE222 crash. Flight MH17 is a different story and weather did not play any role in it because it was allegedly shot down in Eastern Ukraine while it was flying over conflict area. 298 persons on-board lost their lives in this catastrophic incident.
Two different reasons caused two different air accidents within 7 days— MH17 was flying over conflict area and # GE222 crashed due to bad weather. Unluckily Flight AH5017 crash can be attributed to the both reasons—bad weather and the conflict area.
According to preliminary reports Air Algeria AH5017 with 116 persons on-board was en route from Ouagadougou to Algiers on July 25 morning when it disappeared from the radar.
Flight AH5017 took off from Ouagadougou Airport in Burkina Faso at 01:17 GMT and was due to land at 05:10 GMT at to Algiers after covering 3600 KM aerial distance but it never reached its destination.
An Algerian aviation official said the last contact Algerian authorities had with the missing Air Algerie aircraft was at 01:55 GMT when it was flying over Gao, Mali. Burkina Faso officials said captain asked the Air Control Tower in Niamey, Niger, to change route at 01:38 GMT because of a storm in the Sahara.

Weather was very rough en route. There were strong winds even at the altitude of 40,000 feet, claimed air traffic experts.
“Weather was real rough and storm was on flight path with rising clouds above 40,000ft. This is difficult for a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 passenger plane to bear such weather, said one former pilot who had been flying McDonnell Douglas MD-83 in past.
Weather situation could be gauged thoroughly after Taiwan disaster that took place just hours before departure of AH5017. Weather forecast was not promising and pilot could know what kind of situation he could face in such weather.
Moreover separatists in Algeria are fighting against government as separatists are fighting against Ukraine government in Eastern Europe where MH17 was shot down. After diverting its original path AH5017 was flying over the areas that are strongholds of Tuareg separatist rebels, who are fighting against the government since early 2012. Though these separatists do not have long range surface to air missiles (as believed by CIA and French intelligence but who knows that is reality).
This is early to comment what happened to AH5017 but world travel industry should be more careful in future and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) should play its role for aviation and air travel security without further delay and should direct airlines particularly small and budget airlines to work carefully and do not play with the lives of passengers.
There is constant fight going on in Eastern Ukraine since March 2014 and there have been reports that this region is full of Air to surface missiles (Ukraine government and self-proclaimed Donetsk government have such capabilities) and surface to air hitting jet fighters (of Ukraine government). American airlines stopped using this air corridor since April 2014 but IATA kept silence over the situation and after tragic MH17 incident, IATA chief executive Tony Tyler opened his mouth and said that Ukraine bears responsibility for keeping its airspace open to flights.
“Airlines depend on governments and air traffic control authorities to advise which air space is available for flight, and they plan within those limits,” he said. He should have read stories in media to know who control Eastern Europe—the air corridor over Ukraine towards East. Everybody knows that there is no writ of Ukrainian government in Eastern Ukraine except United States and European Union those are not ready to accept the reality. Since IATA leadership belongs to US so it follows political position instead of accepting realities. Ukrainian government is receiving overflight fees for each commercial flight above its territory and therefore it has financial incentive to keep the airspace open as long as possible. Ukrainian government itself dangerous situation and just three days before MH17 was shot it had raised the minimum altitude open for commercial flights over the eastern part of its country to 32,000 feet, from 26,000 feet previously after a military cargo jet was downed at 21,000 feet.

There are news in international media that the U.N. civil aviation body, ICAO, will meet next week with the IATA and other agencies to discuss airline safety after 3 major disasters in 8 days. If such meetings takes place, this gathering would be unusual since the International Civil Aviation Organization has no operational role and cannot open or close air routes or warn carriers to avoid conflict zones.

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3 air traffic accidents in 8 days