When the fear of flying becomes real
March 15 2019 By Abiodun Karim Giwa
What can be wrong with these planes?
News about any air crash is never easy to receive. This is not for nothing, but the insane high casualty. Consequently, whenever people will travel by air is always a time for silent prayers, even for people who don't believe in prayers.
Before I heard the news about the Ethiopian air crash on Sunday, I was at the Bronx in the evening to see a family member on a visit from Nigeria. I told her we should be thankful to God for her safe arrival.
The reason for that statement is that I believe that traveling in a technological contraption called 'aircraft' that flies like a bird in the air, carrying hundreds of passenger, is worthy of reason to be thankful for safe arrival.
I was browsing through the news on Monday when I read about the unbelievable news of the death of Professor Pius Adesanmi of the Carleton University in Canada. My jaw dropped.What killed him? I searched through the story and found that there was an air crash in Ethiopia and he was on the flight.
The news was unbelievable. The information in the story that he had recently survived an accident could still not convince me he was dead as told in the story. But after I got to the end of the story I believed the unbelievable. The story about the Ethiopia aircraft crash and Professor Adesanmi's reported death instantly became a reminder about the fear of flying.
About five years ago, a gentleman reminded about the fear of flying and the arrangement he and his wife had made in case of the unexpected. He actually arrived on an American Airline aircraft at the JFK Airport in new York, and he was awaiting the arrival of his wife on a British Airways aircraft.
I had asked the man if he knew whether there would be any arrival of a British Airways' flight that morning, because my wife was to arrive on a British Airways flight from Nigeria via London. He said he was also awaiting his wife's expected arrival on a British Airways' flight - the same fligh that my boarded from London. He said that traveling on different aircraft by him and his wife is an arrangement between them that if the unexpected should happen, one of them would be here to take care of the kids, instead of the two of them perishing and leaving the kids in the limbo. It was a great lesson to me from him about the fear of flying.
Now, the fear of flying has manifested itself in another way by policy makers' decisions from country to country with the grounding of Boeing 737 and 738 Max fleet following what has been described as similarities in the manner of the crash between the crash in Ethiopia and another one earlier last October in Indonesia.
The first reported similarity is that both crashed planes belong to the Boeing 737 and 738 Max fleet. Another reported similarity is that the last October crash in Indonesia occurred 13 minutes after take off and the crash in Ethiopia happened six minutes after take off.
The dramatic part of the story about the crashed flight in Ethiopia is that the pilot reportedly sought to be allowed to fly back to Ethiopia amid trouble in the air within six minutes of take off. The public would have to wait for the black box message to be decoded to know what type of trouble the flight ran into that may have caused the crash.
Policy makers are reportedly acting on the side of caution to save lives by grounding the Boeing 737 and 738 Max to allow conclusion of ongoing investigations toward ascertaining the cause of the two crashes and prevent future occurrence. Loss of 157 lives in Ethiopia and another loss of 189 lives in Indonesia cannot be disregarded and not do something to.show concern for the safety of human lives.
When a breadwinner leaves home, he wants to return to his family and not become a story about death from in the air. And when our wives travel on the air, they are expected to return home to their husbands and children. The Malaysian experience cannot be easily forgotten with a whole flight missing with entire passengers without a trace.
Air accidents may account for the worst unexpected deaths than any other factor. There is no talk of struggling to stay alive whenever it happens unless by cheer luck. And such luck is very rare. Imagine the loss by Nigerian newspaper readers have suffered by the unexpected death of Professor Adesanmi and many people like him on the Ethiopian crashed flight. And the loss of his students and the Faculty at Carleton University, as.well as his immediate and extended family and friends. Imagine the excruciating pain for the wife and daughter. Not only for him, but for all the other passengers on that flight.
When you watch the video of family members at the scene of the Ethiopian air crash seeking to pray at the scene or to be allowed to see the last place of contact by their loved ones - filled with emotion, the realization that the fear of flying is not for fun will hit your consciousness as real.
We know the danger involved in flying. We have been witnesses to fatal air-crashes with hundreds of lives lost. And the crashes are becoming too often. Yet, we have to continue flying for the importance that we have to travel, and the unavailability of alternative means of fast travel like air travel has robbed of us the possibility of abandoning flying, since there is no other way of connecting distant places far from us.
Why hasn't there be a technological breakthrough all these years about how to really save lives in plane crashes? Are in-flight demonstrations by flight attendants about what passengers have to do for safety in emergency for show? No one has been seen escaping from a flight in a crash and no one has been seen jumping or flying to safety in a parachute and all the parachutes in flights are useless.
Before I heard the news about the Ethiopian air crash on Sunday, I was at the Bronx in the evening to see a family member on a visit from Nigeria. I told her we should be thankful to God for her safe arrival.
The reason for that statement is that I believe that traveling in a technological contraption called 'aircraft' that flies like a bird in the air, carrying hundreds of passenger, is worthy of reason to be thankful for safe arrival.
I was browsing through the news on Monday when I read about the unbelievable news of the death of Professor Pius Adesanmi of the Carleton University in Canada. My jaw dropped.What killed him? I searched through the story and found that there was an air crash in Ethiopia and he was on the flight.
The news was unbelievable. The information in the story that he had recently survived an accident could still not convince me he was dead as told in the story. But after I got to the end of the story I believed the unbelievable. The story about the Ethiopia aircraft crash and Professor Adesanmi's reported death instantly became a reminder about the fear of flying.
About five years ago, a gentleman reminded about the fear of flying and the arrangement he and his wife had made in case of the unexpected. He actually arrived on an American Airline aircraft at the JFK Airport in new York, and he was awaiting the arrival of his wife on a British Airways aircraft.
I had asked the man if he knew whether there would be any arrival of a British Airways' flight that morning, because my wife was to arrive on a British Airways flight from Nigeria via London. He said he was also awaiting his wife's expected arrival on a British Airways' flight - the same fligh that my boarded from London. He said that traveling on different aircraft by him and his wife is an arrangement between them that if the unexpected should happen, one of them would be here to take care of the kids, instead of the two of them perishing and leaving the kids in the limbo. It was a great lesson to me from him about the fear of flying.
Now, the fear of flying has manifested itself in another way by policy makers' decisions from country to country with the grounding of Boeing 737 and 738 Max fleet following what has been described as similarities in the manner of the crash between the crash in Ethiopia and another one earlier last October in Indonesia.
The first reported similarity is that both crashed planes belong to the Boeing 737 and 738 Max fleet. Another reported similarity is that the last October crash in Indonesia occurred 13 minutes after take off and the crash in Ethiopia happened six minutes after take off.
The dramatic part of the story about the crashed flight in Ethiopia is that the pilot reportedly sought to be allowed to fly back to Ethiopia amid trouble in the air within six minutes of take off. The public would have to wait for the black box message to be decoded to know what type of trouble the flight ran into that may have caused the crash.
Policy makers are reportedly acting on the side of caution to save lives by grounding the Boeing 737 and 738 Max to allow conclusion of ongoing investigations toward ascertaining the cause of the two crashes and prevent future occurrence. Loss of 157 lives in Ethiopia and another loss of 189 lives in Indonesia cannot be disregarded and not do something to.show concern for the safety of human lives.
When a breadwinner leaves home, he wants to return to his family and not become a story about death from in the air. And when our wives travel on the air, they are expected to return home to their husbands and children. The Malaysian experience cannot be easily forgotten with a whole flight missing with entire passengers without a trace.
Air accidents may account for the worst unexpected deaths than any other factor. There is no talk of struggling to stay alive whenever it happens unless by cheer luck. And such luck is very rare. Imagine the loss by Nigerian newspaper readers have suffered by the unexpected death of Professor Adesanmi and many people like him on the Ethiopian crashed flight. And the loss of his students and the Faculty at Carleton University, as.well as his immediate and extended family and friends. Imagine the excruciating pain for the wife and daughter. Not only for him, but for all the other passengers on that flight.
When you watch the video of family members at the scene of the Ethiopian air crash seeking to pray at the scene or to be allowed to see the last place of contact by their loved ones - filled with emotion, the realization that the fear of flying is not for fun will hit your consciousness as real.
We know the danger involved in flying. We have been witnesses to fatal air-crashes with hundreds of lives lost. And the crashes are becoming too often. Yet, we have to continue flying for the importance that we have to travel, and the unavailability of alternative means of fast travel like air travel has robbed of us the possibility of abandoning flying, since there is no other way of connecting distant places far from us.
Why hasn't there be a technological breakthrough all these years about how to really save lives in plane crashes? Are in-flight demonstrations by flight attendants about what passengers have to do for safety in emergency for show? No one has been seen escaping from a flight in a crash and no one has been seen jumping or flying to safety in a parachute and all the parachutes in flights are useless.
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