Qantas planes keep getting closer than intended, passengers keep clapping on landing regardless
Four near misses and counting, a new kind of frequent flyer program
Sydney Airport has recorded four near misses over the past month, according to South China Morning Post’s Asia-Pacific desk, prompting renewed scrutiny of air traffic procedures at one of the region’s busiest hubs. Passengers, famously undeterred by anything short of a full stop on the runway, reportedly kept applauding on landing regardless.
The maths that nobody wants to think about mid-flight
Aviation authorities stress that near miss simply means procedures worked as designed, a phrase that is technically true and psychologically unhelpful in roughly equal measure. Regulators, per coverage from Nikkei Asia, have opened a review into staffing and airspace congestion at the airport.
Airlines respond with the traditional statement
Carriers have expressed full confidence in safety protocols, a sentence that appears in every airline statement regardless of the actual event being discussed, which is either deeply reassuring or deeply suspicious depending on how many near misses you have personally read about this month.
Fazit
Four near misses, one review, zero interruptions to the in-flight beverage service. For more Asia-Pacific aviation coverage, visit Asia Times. SOURCE: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia For more British satire on a related theme, see The London Prat’s Edward The Elder And AEthelflaed: When Teamwork Started To Win.
