By Dotun Ibiwoye, Correspondent…Disrupting the reputation of a good brand
For over a decade the crash of commercial planes has been alarmingly widespread around the globe.
Both in developed and developing countries, commercial plane crash is a problem that scares everyone-although it can be curbed and avoided.
In the past five years, the rate of the crashes has been on the increase with reference to the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302, which crashed Sunday on Sunday March 10th 2019, killing all 157 people on board.
The crash which has been nicknamed ‘humanitarian tragedy’ had 19 UN staffers perish in it.
The flight left Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa at 8:38 a.m. (5:38 a.m. GMT), before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8:44 a.m. outside the country’s capital, Addis Ababa.
The passenger jet bound for the Kenyan capital of Nairobi plummeted to the ground minutes after takeoff, killing everyone on board.
The fatalities comprise citizens of 35 countries.
Kenya lost the most citizens in the tragedy, with 32 dead and also Professor Pius Adesanmi, of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, was among the victims from Canada, the university confirmed. Professor Adesanmi, who was also associated with the university’s English department, was a prominent public intellectual in his native Nigeria, where he regularly published political essays.
Who to blame?
In sad occurrences like this, someone or something has to pay the price, that the principle in life.
The company that produced the aero plane is paying the price.
It was the second crash in five months involving a 737 Max 8, and comparisons are being drawn with a Lion Air accident in Indonesia last October.
China, Indonesia and elsewhere grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliner, today Monday, after the second devastating crash of one of the planes in five months. But Boeing said it had no reason to pull the popular aircraft from the skies.
In response, a number of airlines have now grounded all planes of the same model.
However, experts warn it is too early to say what caused the latest disaster
Examining the past five years of crashes clearly proves air tragedy can occur at any region of the world. No country is the safest for air travel.
This is the list of the seventeen commercial crashes for the past five years:
– July 2014. Boeing 777 operated by Malaysia Airlines left the Netherlands and never made it to Malaysia. It was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 aboard.
– July 2014. An ATR 72 from TransAsia Airways, scheduled to fly from Taiwan to Penghu Island, crashed into a building as it approached the airport, killing 48 people. Noncompliance with standard operating procedure was blamed.
– July 2014. A malfunctioning anti-icing system was blamed for the Mali crash of a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 flown by Air Algerie. All 116 on board, who were headed from Burkina Faso to Algeria, were killed.
– December 2014. An Airbus A320 operated by Indonesia AirAsia and headed to Singapore from Indonesia went down over the Java Sea. Crew miscommunication was a contributing factor to the crash, which killed 162 people.
– March 2015. An Airbus A320 operated by Germanwings, headed from Spain to Germany, crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people aboard. The pilot was believed to be suicidal, intentionally downing the plane.
– August 2015. An ATR 42-300 operated by Trigana Air Service and traveling in Indonesia crashed, killing 54. Investigators determined that crew members did not adhere to standard approach procedure while going over mountainous terrain.
– October 2015. An Airbus A321, operated by Kogalymavia and traveling from Egypt to St. Petersburg, was bombed over the Sinai Peninsula, killing 224 people.
– March 2016. Adverse weather was blamed for the crash of a FlyDubai Boeing 737 traveling from the United Arab Emirates to Russia; 62 people were killed.
– May 2016. An EgyptAir Airbus A320 headed to Egypt from France crashed into the Mediterranean Sea after the pilot lost control of the plane; 66 people were killed.
– November 2016. An Avro RJ85 operated by LaMia carrying a Brazilian soccer team from Bolivia to Colombia crashed; 71 of the 77 people on board died. A fuel shortage contributed to the crash.
– December 2016. Engine failure was to blame for the crash of an ATR 42-500 operated by Pakistan International Airlines. Forty-eight people died.
– February 2018. An Antonov An-148 operated by Saratov Airlines crashed shortly after taking off from Moscow, killing 71 people. The crash was caused by loss of control of the plane.
– February 2018. An ATR 72 flown by Aseman Airlines went down in Iran, killing 66 people. Crew errors and bad weather were contributing factors.
– March 2018. A Bombardier Dash operated by US-Bangla crashed in Nepal. The pilot’s lack of “emotional stability” is blamed for the crash.
– May 2018. A Boeing 737 leased by Cubana, Cuba’s national airline, crashed, killing 112. The company that owned the plane blamed pilot error.
– October 2018. A Lion Air Boeing 737 Max crashed in Indonesia with 189 people aboard. Investigators blamed a malfunctioning sensor.
