Links wouldn't stop crashes
Imagine my amusement to a recent article which suggested that opposition officials have used direct links as a solution to China Airlines's (CAL) troubles ("Yu says despite opposition claims, direct links must wait," May 29, page 3). While we don't know the cause of the crash, there is some evidence to suggest that there needs to be procedural changes in Taiwan to lessen the probability of future air disasters.
However, speaking from common sense (as well as from experience as a pilot), that answer doesn't rest in the direct links.
Chinese officials suggest that not adopting direct links after this disaster is "tantamount" to criminal conduct. What exactly do these officials mean? Are they implying that direct links would have somehow prevented this crash? Surely China isn't trying to convince me that flying to Hong Kong is more dangerous than to Xiamen, Beijing, Shang-hai or other Chinese cities.
Flying is flying, and instead of crashing on its way to Hong Kong, CI611 would have crashed on its way to Shanghai. If anything, I'd take my chances flying to Hong Kong because there are no air defense batteries in Hong Kong. And what's more, I'd rather crash outside of Chinese territory because imagine the red tape you would have to go through in the Beijing bureaucracy in order to get rescued inside Chinese territory.
"Pan blue" legislators have also suggested that direct links would somehow solve the problem. Ignorant statements such as these only serve to reaffirm my opinion that the quality of Taiwan's legislators is sorely lacking. It doesn't take a doctorate to win office -- nor, apparently, does it take much common sense. If anything, the only way direct links would solve the problem would be because all the ex-air force mainlanders would retire to their home provinces and leave Taiwan for those that actually appreciate her. I guess that would solve CAL's woes.
Or, could it be that both the Chinese officials and "pan blue" camp are superstitious and somehow believe that flying to Hong Kong is bad luck?
No, as someone suggested, the solution to CAL's woes lies in privatization and introducing competitive forces into an organization that is otherwise a retirement farm for air force and other senior military officers. If we want to focus on supersti-tion, then I would suggest re-flagging the airline as "Formosa Air" and painting the planes green. Oh, and maybe hire pilots that don't treat their 747s as F-104s. Civilians planes don't have as responsive flight controls and a tri-cycle configured landing gear will scrape its tail if you pull up too fast -- even an amateur like me knows that. Those would be solutions to CAL's woes, not some imaginary benefits derived from direct links or superstition.
Ryan J. Shih
Stanford, California
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