The Missing Flight

Just recently a shocking news of a missing Air France flight carrying 228 passenger en route from Brazil to Paris had shook not only the aviation industry but the world. No official announcement of a crash was made yet as the aircraft and any of its passengers has not yet been found up to date.

If reports are proved to be correct, it was believed that there were 32 nationalities on board the aircraft. 61 French, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans, nine Italians, nine Chinese, six Swiss, five Lebanese, five Britons, four Hungarians, three Slovakians, three Irish, three Norwegians; two each from Spain, US, Morocco, Poland; one each from South Africa, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Gambia, Iceland, Netherlands, Philippines, Rumania, Russia, Sweden and Turkey. It is even reported that there were prominent people on board the flght including Pedro Luiz de Orleans e Braganca - Prince - Descendant of Don Pedro II Brazilian Emperor 1822-1831.

Four hours after the plane left Brazil, aviation authorities are said to received message from the Flight 447 that they are experiencing electrical sytems failure. The rest was still, well, a mystery that they are still trying to solve until now despite all the theories that comes up, nothing gives an accurate answer of the real reason of what may have made the Air France down. It was reported that the plane is carrying a fuel which is good for a 10-hour flying time ONLY, obviously there is no way that the aircraft is still flying at this given time. The saddest among the saddest news is that, the chance of survival for any of the passenger is said to be "very, very small.. almost non-existent".

I have been a part of the AIR FRANCE CHECK-IN TEAM here in Dubai for almost 2 years. And almost everyday in that entire time the French Airline and its passengers have been a part of my daily living. When I heard about the news, i cant help but be affected. The first few questions that comes to my mind were "How many children were on board? How many Infants were checked in? It breaks my heart to imagine how much terror these young people felt when the unfortunate event happened. Everyday in the counter as i checked them in the flight I shared nothing but laughter and excitement with them. The young ones are always happy at the sight of the plane and "riding a plane" is supposedly a COOL experience. But then again, things happen, and these things are sadly not always within our control.

Seeing how Air France operates, their flight procedures , their systems and ways in assuring the safety of the passengers and the flight itself ( though I know nothing about the technicalities of aircraft maintenance), IMO, AF was one of the safest airlines that could grace the skies. They have young and well maintain fleets. If the records (based on estimates) proves to be correct, AF has considerably "clean records"based on fatal events against the number of flights taken since 1970.

My heart goes with the families of the people whose loved ones were with the missing flight. People of the world could only pray that somehow their emotional turmoil would end soon and may they found the answers to all the mysteries that surrounds these fatal event for the benefit of the people who are still groping for the tiniest hope of ever seing their missing love ones again, alive or otherwise.