itrus

April 4, 2015

 

First it was the two  Malaysian Airliners; one untraceable, another blown to bits by a missile.

Then the series of catastrophic incidents of Air Algerie 5017 & Air Asia QZ8501 killed all passengers & crew members aboard. And now the most unexpected accident that can become every flyer’s worst nightmare — the Germanwings flight 9525 crashing into the French Alps due to a reportedly 'depressed' co-pilot's suicide pact with himself.

No terrorism. No ‘God’s instructions’. No Muslims involved. No violent teenage mood swings this time. Nothing was found that could categorize this heinous act as some sort of a religious one.

This incident was swiftly followed by a recent skidding off the runaway of Air Canada AC624, after landing at Halifax Airport, which thankfully had no casualties.

What must have been going on their minds while man-slaughtering hundreds of innocent hapless civilians along with themselves is still a million dollar question for many – especially after recent revelations that 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of the Germanwings aircraft, contemplated suicide, and the crash was termed as premeditated as he accelerated the plane while descending.

While speculations and investigations are still underway, millions of conspiracy theories on MH370 and others have emerged on the Internet and there were 94,000 videos related to such theories on YouTube, many of which have been viewed tens or even hundreds of thousands of times.

 

Here are some of the most widely circulated theories:

 

1. SHOT DOWN

According to this theory, Malaysian Flight 370 could have been shot down during a joint military exercise between the United States and Thailand in the South China Sea.

 

2. TERRORIST HIJACKING

Some conspiracy theorists have dubbed this as the "9/11/14" theory. This theory too is utterly devoid of any proof but widely circulated on the internet, suggesting that that Flight 370 is in the process of being prepared for a terrorist spectacular.

 

3. MH17 PLANE SWITCH

The "plane switch" is among the most outlandish theories to have surfaced.

This theory proposes that it was Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and not Flight 17 that was shot down over the Ukraine in July last year. Little explanation has been given about who might benefit from switching the planes, or how they may have achieved it It also says that Flight 17 was actually shot down as part of a plot to hide "the dirty business" going on in Gaza.

 

4. ISLAND LANDING

In the days and weeks following the plane's disappearance one of the most commonly heard conspiracy theories was that it had landed on Diego Garcia, the British-owned island in the Indian Ocean that is home to a major US military base. The theory gained so much traction that US officials were forced to deny it.

 

5. THE UNKNOWN "FORCE"

Mike Adams, a veteran conspiracy theorist who runs a website called the Natural News, is known for his bizarre and often ludicrous articles. "There are some astonishing things you're not being told about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370," he wrote less than 48 hours after the disaster. His explanation for how MH370 "utterly and inexplicably vanished"? Not a hijacking nor a mid-air explosion but possibly the work of "some entirely new, mysterious and powerful force" capable of plucking "airplanes out of the sky without leaving behind even a shred of evidence".

"If there does exist a weapon with such capabilities, whoever controls it already has the ability to dominate all of Earth's nations with a fearsome military weapon of unimaginable power," Mr Adams wrote."That thought is a lot more scary than the idea of an aircraft suffering a fatal mechanical failure."

 

6. AND FINALLY: REALITY CHECK

Despite all those theories, the reality is certainly more mundane say some aviation experts. And now with the theory of suicide bid of the Germanwings, this is becoming quite convincing that whatever happened to the plane was a deliberate act by someone on board, probably the captain.

 

The entire saga of frequent debacles in the air does not seem to be ending and it is sending shivers down the spines of frequent flyers. So, do these recent developments prove that our skies have become more unsafe lately?

Well, statistics show otherwise. According to BAAA (Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives), 2014 has been the safest year in the last 10 years of aviation history, registering only 111 crashes — a decade low figure. But when it comes to casualties, there has been a sharp jump in numbers last year at 1320.

So, at the end of it all, the million dollar question remains — what's next for civil aviation? Is it safe? Or have our skies become more dangerous? Whatever the answers are, positive or negative, common people can't stop flying. Come on, let's be frank! No matter however worse the scenario becomes, in this highly globalized busy world, flying is the only option, given its feasibility & convenience. The good news is, if data is to be believed, you are more likely to die from a car accident than if you are flying. According to WHO, around 1.24 million people die each year on road accidents worldwide as compared to the bloodiest year in aviation history i.e. 1972 registering a death toll of 3,346 (as per BAAA records) which is a relatively low rate in ratio to the massive passenger traffic on air.

But how well these assurances are going to pacify panicky passengers – that still remains under a shadow of doubt. One thing is for sure: flying will no longer be fun since the dark clouds of fear over safety concerns and distrust seem to have cloaked the skies, until the memories of apocalypse in the air fades away soon in coming days. 

(Sources: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/11078770/MH370-Six-reasons-why-plane-vanished.html)