Where’s it safe to fly? Revise aviation rules

Malaysia Airlines has suffered a second major catastrophe in just months, the latest crash owing to an act of terror, which on the strength of evidence unearthed so far appears to have been unleashed by pro-Russia separatists of eastern Ukraine using a Russian surface-to-air Buk missile. (The Russians, though, deny this, and blame the Ukrainians.)

While infra-red sensors on spy satellites could partially track the missile’s final trajectory to the moment it hit the Boeing 777-200ER, there is no hard evidence yet of where the missile originated. There is far too much conjecture, while conspiracy theorists have a free run.

But irrespective of who is to blame, the Malaysian jet was flying over an area that had not been closed to civilian air traffic, as indeed were planes of many other international airlines. The world now faces a major new crisis: should civil aviation norms be revised to prohibit airliners from traversing regions where there is conflict or insurgency, as in the troubled part of Europe near the Ukraine-Russia border where this tragedy occurred.

The world should have seen this coming: the rebels in the area had boasted of downing two Ukrainian military planes earlier this week. Some airlines had still been flying over Ukraine though others were cautious enough to avoid the area by swinging south. But after Thursday, airlines will act more like a scalded child dreading fire.

It may take a while for the scale of the human tragedy to sink in. Among the innocent people on board were some experts and researchers on AIDS, intrepid warriors against one of mankind’s worst scrounges, heading to a conference in Australia. One crew member of Indian origin had swapped duty with a colleague to be on the ill-fated flight, becoming one of the 298 at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The danger to civilian air traffic traversing conflict zones can never be understated. The irony is that so many parts of the world are now zones of conflict: regulatory bodies like the ICAO must be more proactive in drawing the line on where civilian aircraft can fly safely on international routes. Beyond the precautions that must be taken from now on, there is also the matter of an independent inquiry to be conducted into the crash to determine the cause.

The reach of militants rebels and separatists, guerrillas and terrorists in being able to bring down an aircraft from about 10,000 metres suggests a macabre military capability that the world must factor in when it comes to defining where we stand in an eternal quest for peace. A good way to start might be to tackle the Ukrainian tangle on a high priority basis.