Just recently, I have been following the developments in the Indian aviation industry sector closely and have found unnecessery media interventions on sensative subjects like airline safety being sensationalised can harm the airlines unnecesserily.
Recently a channel here has been covering the near misses in India which came to around 23 in the last 2 years. 11 million new passengers took to the Indian skies in last 2 years as well, thanks to the LOCO revolution, or the LCC as they call it here.
Now, the news agency covering this issue keeps on using phrases like “it may cost your life” or “it will you who will suffer”.
I agree the situations like this can be grave but i disagree with the portration of such instaces in the media. It only causes unnecessery paranoia among the passengers.
I am interested in knowing how many near misses have occured at hubs like London, NY etc. And does the media make such a big deal about incients, unless its a grave one, like in Delhi few months back an Air Sahara B737 missed a chopper by 100 feet. Or the very amusing BA aborting landing at last minute because ATC spotted 2 people riding a 2 wheeler on the runway.
Is such media paranoia only hereor in Europe and other parts of the world aswell? As far as i am concerned 90% of such reports are inaccurate representations of the facts. Causing paranoia amongst people, which ultimately makes the airline suffer unneceserily.
Your thoughts?
By: KabirT - 5th January 2006 at 14:17
I’m not sure I agree completely. Genuine near misses in the UK are investigated, and consequently the reports should be available online at the AAIB. Assuming that the Indian press has not exagerated the figures then I think the travelling public has a right to know about increases in such incidents, and general trends in safety. It is often public pressure and reaction to such incidents which actually prompts action.
Without wanting to cause offence or upset, India’s air transport infrastructure is bursting at the seams, at a time when demand is growing, along with deregulation stimulating demand still further. The fact that the press have highlighted that there are safety implications should not be covered up, because otherwise it will take an actual accident to highlight the problems…often referred to as the ‘Tombstone Imperitive’, i.e. things only get done once an accident has happened.
The aviation press regulalry seems to be discussing India, and the fact that the government is aware they need to spend money on infrastructure and improving ATC, so why should the travelling Indian population not also be made aware of the problems. If it does harm the industry financially then the airlines themselves are liekly to put pressure on the government to act, because at the end of the day money talks.
Geniun news can also be sensatonalised, dont you think? I agree any near misses MUST be investigated and brought in front of the public eye. But in many cases paranoia is created unnecesserily. India needs a massive infrastructure upgradation, recently to land in fog Delhi installed CAT III LB system to assist pilots in landing even when visibility is 100 meters. This system was first installed in 2000 and has been consistently mal-functioning ever since (it was upgraded last year and still does not perform 100%) and for all this the airlines are blamed by the media for not training there pilots for this. The other side of the story is some airlines refuse to train pilots for foggy coditions as they argue that these conditions last only 20 days and the price of training pilots is alot.
So two valid stories, but one being blamed. Thats what causes paranoia in my opinion which is harmful for the industry. I never said they should support a cover up, ost of the upgradation is to be done by the government, where beurocracy plays a major role. But using unnnecesery phrases like “you might get hurt” etc. etc. by the media will just cause unnecesery turmoil. Remember in India atleast, there have been more first time travelers than ever before.
By: rdc1000 - 5th January 2006 at 11:17
I’m not sure I agree completely. Genuine near misses in the UK are investigated, and consequently the reports should be available online at the AAIB. Assuming that the Indian press has not exagerated the figures then I think the travelling public has a right to know about increases in such incidents, and general trends in safety. It is often public pressure and reaction to such incidents which actually prompts action.
Without wanting to cause offence or upset, India’s air transport infrastructure is bursting at the seams, at a time when demand is growing, along with deregulation stimulating demand still further. The fact that the press have highlighted that there are safety implications should not be covered up, because otherwise it will take an actual accident to highlight the problems…often referred to as the ‘Tombstone Imperitive’, i.e. things only get done once an accident has happened.
The aviation press regulalry seems to be discussing India, and the fact that the government is aware they need to spend money on infrastructure and improving ATC, so why should the travelling Indian population not also be made aware of the problems. If it does harm the industry financially then the airlines themselves are liekly to put pressure on the government to act, because at the end of the day money talks.
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January 5, 2006 at 9:27 am