From the National Carrier Kenya Airways to Private Commercial Aircrafts or even Military/Police Aircrafts something is amiss with our flight safety record and something needs to be done urgently!I take this opportunity to condole the two Kenyan ministers who perished in a horrid air crash at a remote and hilly forested Kojong'a area in Nairegi Enkare,Narok Dstrict Rift Valley Province in Kenya yesterday.This is the 3rd incident involving members of parliament and high dignitaries in less than five years!
It is a painful blow to Kenya to have lost in death Honorable Kipkalya Kones the Minister for roads Member of Parliament for Bomet and Honorable Lorna Laboso the assistant Minister of Home Affairs ,Office of the Vice President ,member of parliament Sotik Constituency.My words to the family is that may they take heart in this grevious situation in the words of Acts 24:15 ;" and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous"The departed just like Lazarus are now asleep in death, they are not suffering in any way nor are they in heaven-they have returned to the dust but will be resurrected from the dust on Christs trumpet call/time of restoration of all things!
Back to the issue of airsafety in Kenya i believe that the lives of Hon Kipkalya Kones and Lorna Laboso and so many other persons ought not to have been lost like that.Aviation safety seems to be looked down upon! Most of our planes are rarely serviced or are cheap second hands bought from shoddy places.Again flying is not only about the aircraft but also the air controllers who are ill neglected.It seems for most part of the journey our pilots "fly blind"
i.e without ground support !Even when they fly low they are rarely warned or monitored by ground controllers.Its only a couple of years back that this ground controllers went on strike because of poor pay and most were sacked despite their years of experience and expertise! The Government cannot continue to shun such important issues because their own lives are involved.If no comprehensive reforms in the aviation sector are carried out immediately such incidents will continue to occur with much loss to us as a country!
Crossed fingers seem to have been adopted as the symbol for safety by the authorities in charge of Kenyan aviation. Every time the 'birds' drop from the skies, all manner of baffling causes are advanced although obliquely since we never quite get to read the subsequent investigation reports.
ReplyDeleteIt is now being suggested that bad weather may have prevented the pilot from seeing the hills/trees into which he crashed. A load of crap if you ask me.
Just how bad was the weather? Aren't planes designed to fly through bad weather? If this one wasn't, was the pilot not given a forecast as is/should be mandatory? Was the plane at the right altitude as per flight plan? Did the aircraft not have ground proximity detectors?
We could, of course, put aside such queries at this time of grief. But i hope we do not make it a culture to soon thereafter smooth over them, for it appears to me that there is a clear string of culpable parties in this and similar previous incidents. They should be handled head-on to instill a high standard of safety in the air transport sector.