Truth be told, I felt certain the technology that enabled deep sea explorers to find the wreck of the RMS Titanic after seven decades would enable them to find the wreck of MH370 after seven hours.
Not to mention the unprecedented resources they were dedicating to this search:
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has spawned the largest-ever multinational air-sea search — involving ships, airplanes from at least 14 countries and requests for radar information from as many as 26.
The nature of the search, in which such an enormous stretch of the globe is being scoured, is also equally unprecedented, officials say.
(NPR, March 17, 2014)
Yet I could not resist positing that its passengers might either meet the real fate of Amelia Earhart, or play out the TV fate of the characters on the popular series, Lost.
Nobody knows what became of it. …
My own scenario follows the takeoff for the TV series Lost. All things considered, those on board should be so lucky. …
There’s no denying my consternation over the fact that, despite all the advances in radar and avionics, this Malaysian jumbo jet disappeared without a trace today just as Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed prop plane did 77 years ago.
(“Malaysian Airlines MH370 … ‘Lost,’” The iPINIONS Journal, March 14, 2014)
This is why I am as dumbfounded as I am resigned that it has come to this:
After nearly three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration Tuesday, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a trace of the plane or the 239 people aboard it.
The Joint Agency Coordination Center in Australia, which helped lead the $160 million hunt for the Boeing 777 in remote waters west of Australia, said the search had officially been suspended after crews finished their fruitless sweep of the 120,000-square kilometer (46,000-square mile) search zone.
‘Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting-edge technology, as well as modeling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft,’ the agency said in a statement, which was a joint communique from the transport ministers of Malaysia, Australia and China.
(Associated Press, January 17, 2017)
Good night Malaysian three-seven-zero.
Farewell.
Related commentaries:
MH370…