Peter,
Like others, you are focused on the end, not the beginning.
We don't know the pilots made mistakes... or that MH370 was intentional, or a mechanic screwed up or missed something, or a designer missed something, or the builder screwed up, or... and it doesn't matter, what's done is done. The statement is after the fact.
But aviation (as a non-sentient concept, if that helps) found a weakness and exploited it. Whether it be man, machine or procedure... Those involved either couldn't or didn't intervene correctly. By exploiting a <insert modality> weakness, aviation has corrected an error in its realm. Often those corrections are harsh. That is all Clyde is saying.... all that I'm saying. No passing any judgement, not claiming to be better than anyone, just that Aviation has removed a weak link in it's chain. Again. Not for the last time.
Anthony,
Some refer to such mishaps as "An act of God", "Mother Nature", or just cold hard physics.
Accepting that "Some" are correct, would you say God is judgemental? Mother Nature has an Ego? Physics is cocky?
Or, are we just shooting the messenger?
And the TLDR:
I have found through the years that many equate flying to be just driving in the sky. It is not. But until you have been on the other side of that equation, you may not accept that.
Food for thought. Like driving a Ferrari, flying a plane is a glorious experience. When your Ferrari runs out of gas... it begins to slow in the X axis. But you are on the ground. If you have power steering, turning the wheel may get harder but it works, same with power brakes. 99% of the time, the driver pulls to the side of the road by moving in the Y axis and stops. All you have to deal with is the long walk to gas station and perhaps a bit of humiliation from all the jokers laughing at Ferrari-boy-done-fucked-up, maybe some rain. There is no relevant Z axis.
In a plane, if you run out of gas both X and Y are also in play. But you now have Z to contend with... Z is controlled by gravity and you have no say in it's presence or power. You have little or no recourse other than to trade some of your X for more Z. More Z also means more time to enact a solution. Unfortunately, you only have to air to pull to the side of... and that doesn't work. You need a road or something similar to a road to accomplish your Y and deal with your ever diminishing Z. You need to be able to travel to that road. Not so easy if you're over mountainous terrain, tall city buildings, homes with families in them or in my case... hundreds of miles of water. This is all compounded (in a jet) by your control surfaces be EXTREMELY hard if not impossible (fly by wire) to operate. Most commercial and military aircraft have something akin to power steering and brakes, but it operates on 3000psi hydraulics. No fuel - no engine. No engine - no 3000psi hydraulic pump. There are methods to overcome this situation and survive, but you better have trained for it and trained well and be ready to act in a heartbeat... It may involve a trip in a parachute, or killing hundreds of passengers. Yes, you've got gauges but you have multiple tanks and transfer pumps to worry about, contend with. Your backup is to always be mindful of your speed and fuel consumption and kinda know how many pounds of fuel you still "think" you have on board, that you can get too, if you can get to it. Does what is in your head, jive with the gauges. When you get back to the boat, do you have enough for a few go arounds? It's important, you are trusted with millions of dollars of taxpayer assets, the life of the guy sitting behind you. Most personally, the North Atlantic is F'ing cold water, you don't want to ditch or have to punch out.
And this is just for something as simple as running out of gas.
Think about it the next time the gas gauge in your Ferrari shows low... if it is even working. What if your next fill up means life or death before you get home or to work?
Aviation: A quote from one of my early instructors as I was standing on the flight-line watching a fellow student up in the air.
"It is always better to be down here wishing you were up there than it is to be up there wishing you were down here."
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