Week 7 (19-25.01.2015): 2014 was a bad year for aviation.

2014 wasn’t a good year for aviation. It brought some of the most horrifying and deadly crashes in the history. I’d like to look into air disasters that happened, because those events are absolutely unparalleled in recent years. 

Disappearance of MH370

On March 8th Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur on its way to Beijing. Less than an hour into the flight contact with the airplane was lost. It means not only that there was no answer to radio calls but also that automatic systems used to track aircraft went off. There are basically two possibilities, either someone switched them off intentionally or there was massive electrical malfunction. The plane went off the radars not to be seen ever again. In a confusion authorities started to search for the aircraft but they were looking in a wrong place. The information from military radars and satellite services suggested that the plane turned around and should be looked for somewhere in the Indian Ocean.  Despite the most expensive search effort in the history not a single piece of airplane has been found to this day. The search continues.

"Boeing 777-200ER Malaysia Airlines which disappeared over the Pacific" by Laurent ERRERA from L'Union, France - Uploaded by russavia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

It is practically unprecedented event. No plane this big was lost without a trace in the history. Due to this fact and a  big number of people on board (namely 239 persons) it received worldwide media coverage. The mystery surrounding disappearance of flight MH370 keeps spawning conspiracy theories.  You can read nice roundup here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-the-13-theories-that-could-explain-where-the-plane-is--and-what-happened-to-it-9455120.html

Some of them are pretty ridiculous but others have some experienced aviation people backing them up. There are even some books revealing „the truth”. This is an example: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2756315/MH370-pilot-switched-oxygen-supply-kill-SIXTH-example-suicide-flights-according-Kiwi-Airlines-boss.html

I think the author either really believes his theory or is a heartless bastard who tries to earn some money on the tragedy of others.

The last link is to a pretty interesting documentary gathering some aviation specialists and trying to look for any missing information in the whole chain of events leading to this disaster: 

Bloody July

July was particularly ill-fated. Three major disasters happened that month.

On July 17th the Malaysian Airline’s Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over Ukraine killing all 298 persons on board. The incident is still being investigated but it seems that pro-Russian separatists used an advanced missile system supplied by Russia. The plane was flying over the conflict zone at the moment of disaster but was over 10000m high which was deemed as a safe altitude. Officials weren’t aware that separatists could have so advanced weaponry.

The event led to an international outcry but it doesn’t seem it has changed much in regard to the situation in the Eastern Ukraine. 

"Boeing 777-2H6ER which was shot down over Ukraine" by Alan Wilson from Weston, Spalding, Lincs, UK - Uploaded by russavia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

 

On July 23rd TranAsia Airways Flight 222 tried to land at Magong Airport in Taiwan but crashed into the buildings probably due to the bad weather. Of 58 people on board only 10 survived the crash.

Only one day later Air Algerie plane with 116 persons on board veered off course and crashed into the desert killing all on board.

Another disappearance over Pacific

As the year was coming to an end one more deadly incident took place. On December 28th AirAsia lost contact with their Airbus A320 flying from Indonesia to Singapore. There was strong storm forming in the way of the plane but as it is the monsoon period it was nothing extraordinary in this region. Pilots tried to find their way around the storm but something went wrong. Either they stalled aircraft (lost too much speed to keep it flying) or were surprised by another forming storm. It is too early to be definite about it. 

"AirAsia Airbus A320-200 which crashed in a bad weather on December 28th " by Sabung.hamster - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

First debris and bodies from crash were found two days after the crash and the main part of wreckage was  located on January 3rd. For two long days media was seeking similarities to MH370’s case.

Is flying more dangerous than ever?

The accidents were terrifying. The media coverage was broader than ever and the unresolved case of flight MH370 affects people’s emotions and fears. But was this year really the worst in the history of aviation?

The numbers tell us this is not really the case. There is downward trend in the number of aviation accidents and it keeps true in 2014. Actually in 2014 there were the fewest crashes in the recorded history of aviation!  Also the overall number of victims generally dropped although there were better years than 2014. Only one statistic seems to show how bad this year was. The number of casualties per accident is at its ever highest rate.

Here are some of the statistics: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/is-this-one-of-the-worst-years-ever-in-the-history-of-civil-aviation/article19744405/

And what do you think? Are you afraid to fly? Is fear stronger than a year before?

Sources:

http://avherald.com/h?list=&opt=7681

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Alg%C3%A9rie_Flight_5017

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia_AirAsia_Flight_8501

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_17

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAsia_Airways_Flight_222