MH370

[arkieb1]

"It's very easy to Monday-morning quarterback after the fact and spout about how so many things could have been done better even as you provide no detail on why, but this type of speculation and accusation benefits no one in my opinion. It doesn't bring back the lives, it doesn't help us learn how to do things better. Some who 'owns jets' isn't quite the same to me as someone who oversees a commercial airline operation, and small commercial airline outfits like Malaysia Air (at just under $9M revenue) aren't at all the same as the 150+ commercial airline outfits that each generate at least a half-BILLION dollars in revenue.

I'd find it much more relevant and constructive to hear from other similarly situated airlines how we and they can learn from something like this going forward".

Hi Aljdewey,

my husband has been in senior management in the airline industry for over 30 years. After he owned a regional airline in Australia he set up the second largest engineering training facility in the world training staff for over 80 airlines many of them bigger than Malaysian airlines. He has worked with places like Air Asia and done a small amount of work with Malaysian airlines and while he agrees with you that they are mostly decent people all trying their best in a unique situation he also agrees with me that airlines like Qantas, Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa would have handled this situation very very differently.

Once they eventually find the flight recording data I am sure the whole industry can learn a number of things going forward.

 

[aljdewey]

..... while he agrees with you that they are mostly decent people all trying their best in a unique situation, he also agrees with me that airlines like Qantas, Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa would have handled this situation very very differently.

Arkie, I'm not at all dismissing that your husband has perhaps a more insightful perspective than the masses do because of his experience in the field - not at all.

Nonetheless, stating that B/A, Qantas, Lufthansa and Emirates *would* have handled this differently is still incredibly speculative. I can respect that it's your opinion, but it's far from being a declarative certainty.

I'm basing my opinion on what I know.

1. None of those carriers have experienced a loss of this magnitude under these conditions (over deep water, hundreds of miles off anticipated flight path, occurring during years where it's incredibly difficult to play beat-the-media to the news). You can state all you'd like how you think the other carriers would behave, but unless and unless that's put to the test, none of us really knows. Beyond that, I'd also say that disaster events rarely unfold precisely according to disaster preparedness plans - there are always unforeseen elements that impact the net outcome. Even the best laid plans can fall short once tested.

2. British Airways is a $178B carrier with 43K employees.
Qantas is a $14B carrier with 33K employees.
Lufthansa is a $39B carrier with 116K employees
Malaysia Air is only a $4B carrier with just 20K employees and government-owned.

In my opinion, it's not horribly realistic to compare a much smaller carrier's outfit/operation expectations with those of carriers multiples times their size and multiple times their resources.

I agree with you greatly that recovery of the black boxes will present a tremendous learning opportunity, but until that happens, I just do still believe that it's a gross disservice to Malaysia Airlines and to everyone else involved to beat them prematurely with the stick of public outrage. For me personally, it's not productive, it's not helpful, and it doesn't serve to help anyone learn from the situation.

 

[Kaleigh]

Watched CNN this morning. Saw Bob Arnot who I know from days in Nantucket. He is a pilot but not of a commercial nature, so don't get why they are relying on him. I understand why they relied on him for JFK , he flew that route from NYC to Nantucket. And his commentary was spot on and of value.. BUT as of late stop rinsing and repeating.. Families need more.. Than speculation...

I just pray for the families and each day seems like we don't get closer. I can't imagine their pain at this point