The light aircraft crash while coming into land at Coventry airport ten days ago, the MD-82 plane crash on take-off at Madrid last week, and now a Boeing 737 crash on take-off at Bishkek Airport in Kirgizstan. Planes crashes really do come in threes.EU or US-based multinational companies, at least, have a statutory and extraterritorial duty of care to protect travelling employees, but travelling within Kirgizstan poses a particular problem. For a start the capital Bishkek is not centrally located and the country is mountainous, making internal road travel difficult. Secondly, the EU has published safety concerns about all Kyrgiz airlines, including Itek Air, the one that has experienced last night’s catastrophe. So concerned is the EU that all of the country’s airlines are banned from EU airspace: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/pdf/list_en.pdf. It is important that travel planners consult this list before booking travellers on any overseas airlines.
The blog published recently some interesting statistics about flight safety and seat choice. This can be found at:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4219452.html
and
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4214998.ece
Above all, on settling into a plane travellers should familiarise themselves with the locations or the nearest emergency exit and always be prepared for an emergency on take off. Passport and wallet should be in pocket and shoes should be left on.
Hints on how to secure the seat you want can be found at:
http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=17&category=1
