Aviation experts have expressed surprise at the sudden loss of contact with the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, which has an almost flawless safety record.
Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation safety consultant who serves on India’s Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Committee, said it was “very, very rare” for an aircraft to lose contact completely without any previous indication of problems.
“The 777 is a very safe aircraft – I’m surprised,” he said.
He noted that the flight had already reached cruising altitude of 10,700 metres but that online flight data suggested it had experienced a very rapid loss of height and change in the direction it was heading.
Neil Hansford, the chairman of consultancy firm Strategic Aviation Solutions and a former air freight executive, said of the Boeing 777: “It has probably been one of the safest aircraft in aviation history.”
He said more than 1000 of the aircraft had been produced and just 60 incidents had been logged, most of them minor. He said the chance of both engines failing at the same time was very low.
“If you lose an engine in a cruise it doesn’t fall out of the sky,” he said.
Hansford said he had seen some people speculating about sabotage or a bomb, claims he said were premature: “How could anybody know make that sort of assertion this early?”
08/03/14 The Guardian
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Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation safety consultant who serves on India’s Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Committee, said it was “very, very rare” for an aircraft to lose contact completely without any previous indication of problems.
“The 777 is a very safe aircraft – I’m surprised,” he said.
He noted that the flight had already reached cruising altitude of 10,700 metres but that online flight data suggested it had experienced a very rapid loss of height and change in the direction it was heading.
Neil Hansford, the chairman of consultancy firm Strategic Aviation Solutions and a former air freight executive, said of the Boeing 777: “It has probably been one of the safest aircraft in aviation history.”
He said more than 1000 of the aircraft had been produced and just 60 incidents had been logged, most of them minor. He said the chance of both engines failing at the same time was very low.
“If you lose an engine in a cruise it doesn’t fall out of the sky,” he said.
Hansford said he had seen some people speculating about sabotage or a bomb, claims he said were premature: “How could anybody know make that sort of assertion this early?”
08/03/14 The Guardian
