Is it just me or does it seem that this year has provided us with some harrowing experiences with aircraft? There was the plane landing in the Hudson; there was the plane lost in the Atlantic; and now a tragic experience outside of the commercial aviation industry – the collision of two General Aviation aircraft.
My condolences go out to the families of the 9 passengers that died in the collision of a small plane and a helicopter over the Hudson. An article I read made some interesting points about possible reasons why this crash occured. Regardless of the causes and the investigations that will ensue, it is clear that regulations within the commercial airline and general aviation industries need to be reassessed to shift resources to the areas that need it. There have been 34 accidents thus far in the year involving various types of aircraft.
These moments remind us from a regulation standpoint:
1) That even the best laid policies do not account for all uncertainty – General Aviation aircraft fly under Vision Flight Rules, where pilots do not communicate with planes in the air, but just avoid what they see. I guess there was never a reason to do things another way.
2) That the experience of loss and tragedy can motivate government to potentially overregulate to compensate for the shock caused by loss – already reported in the article, Sen. Schumer suggested the possibility of regulating General Aviation more. Sometimes regulation is the response needed to prevent further tragedies such as this. Other times it can be overdone and create more havoc and confusion in an industry already stretched thin by a plethora of protocol.
These tragedies are moments though, that brings a country and a world together because these events happened in what should have been ordinary circumstances and “business as usual.”
In the midst of investigating what happened and searching the wreckage, I just want to take this moment to acknowledge those lost in this tragic event and to not forget about some other, very tragic aviation accidents around the globe this year:
1) Air France Flight 447 – Rio De Janeiro to Paris – June 1 2009 – 228 Fatalities, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean
2) Yemenia Airway Flight 626 – Sana’a, Yemen to Moroni, Comoros – June 30 2009 – 152 fatalities, crashed 10 miles from Mitsamiouli, Comoros
3) Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 – Tehran, Iran to Yerevan, Armenia – July 15 2009 – 168 Fatalities, crashed near Qazvin, Iran
4) Military-Indonesian Air Force – Jakarta to Maduin – May 20 2009 – 98 Fatalities, crashed near Maduin, Indonesia
5) Continental Connection/Colgan Air Flight 3407 – Newark, N.J. to Buffalo, NY – February, 12, 2009 – 49 Fatalities, crashed near Clarence Center, New York
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