new thread
Hi everybody,
Hopefully this is okay with the moderators. But I just watched the procession of hearses carrying the lost souls from the Netherlands. This was very touching to me so wanted to post here. Vincent I mourn with you and your country.
If we have any other members here from countries who have lost souls on this flight I mourn together with you. This is truly unfortunate.
Ted
Sigh. Yeah, very sad. Most tragic is that they are blaming everyone except those at fault. Flying an airplane over a war zone where planes are being shot down, just to save gas, represented greed to the extreme of insanity. The poor passengers had no idea this was being done to them, nor any say about the choice of the dangerous route that took them to their deaths.
What did this save the airline? Fifty bucks per passenger perhaps? I'd bet that, given the choice of "$50 off on your ticket if we can fly you over Ukraine," none would have opted for the "savings". Not only were such savings taken from them, but also were their lives. This whole affair represented corporate greed at its finest hour.
Bill
While it may have saved them a few dollars on fuel it ended
up costing them millions of dollars for the destroyed airplane, 298 precious lives, and much grief and sadness.
On top of that there was one family who had deaths on the plane that disappeared months ago and on this plane that was shot down
over Ukraine.
Was it corporate greed? Or was it a pilot who was just anxious to get his shift over?
This also raises the question was it a missle that shot down
flight 800 over Long Island in 1996? (That has always been
controversial, flight 800 crashed off long island, many hundreds of witnesses swore they saw a missle (rocket) hit the plane. The NTSB claimed it was a fuel tank that caused the crash. So in the wake of MH17 maybe those hundreds of witnesses were right.
What is really sad about MH17 is how the scene has been
trashed, the bodies tossed in train cars, ipods, wallets, etc.
stolen, etc. Plus there still seems to be 100 bodies still missing.
Hi LHIA,
I thank you for your reply! Like Bill, you always raise excellent points. I only hope those involved can get proper closure. My prayers are with them.
Ted
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the reply! You make excellent points as usual. It is indeed very sad and I send my thoughts and prayers to all who are involved.
Ted
Yes, there's no other way to describe it other than heart-breaking. Such a horrible loss -- and so unnecessary, so pointless.
I agree also with Bill's comments about corporate greed and the lack of common sense to fly over a war zone.
My condolences to all who are suffering from this loss & grief right now.
Remember, these are the same cheapskates who didn't spring for the monthly subscription fee for their lost plane's factory installed tracking device, something many rental cars and big rigs have.
Bill
Where was this reported? I never heard that or read it anywhere..
Do you mean the pings on the airplanes black box? The pings that will die when the battery dies after 30 days?
I've never heard of planes having this "tracking device."
It was in the news early on in the reports of the plane's disappearance. The unpaid-for service did send some pings that were picked up by the service, and that is how they figured out the plane was somewhere over the Indian Ocean. This is similar to how unrenewed cell phones still talk to towers enough that you can call 911 on them. The pings the plane sent did not contain location information as they would have had, had the service been paid for. So all they knew was that "they heard the pings from satellites that at the time were over the Indian Ocean."
Diligent use of the service, had it been operational, would have reported to the airline that the plane was off course long before it met its final demise. The Malaysian Air Force could have had fighter jets flying alongside the aircraft while it was still in the air. (Assuming they have an air force...)
A lot of people lose all their money when in Las Vegas. They will rent a car to get home, with the idea that they will just ditch the car when they do. They seldom get that far. Rental contracts there prohibit taking the car out of state. The minute you cross the state line with a Nevada rental car, the highway patrol in the adjoining state is notified that the car is stolen and the exact place it is, is in the notification. If rental car companies find this cost effective to protect an automobile, you'd think an airline would spring for that expense to protect a huge airliner.
Most "big rigs" owned by large trucking companies have such devices installed. The technology is similar to the On Star system that is installed in many General Motors cars. In this century, it is not science fiction. It is cheap, and it is routine. Many people even track their kids on their cell phones nowadays. But Malaysian Airlines was too cheap to track an airliner with it. It was even installed in the plane already. All they had to do was pay the monthly bill for it.
Bill
And after the other plane was lost, you would definitely think they would pay for the service. Very sad indeed.
Ted