Time passes. Shakespeare said “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.”
As of today, the mystery of MH370 has gone unsolved for two years.
Better that the tower in Malaysia had been proactive and caught that there was something going on before it flew off course;
Better if maintenance had found the issue, if issue there was;
Better if safety checks had caught an issue, if issue there was;
We don’t have a clue what issue there was.
Hundreds of theories have been developed and discarded. Millions in funds have been spent on the search. Every penny could have been saved if something had been caught in a timely fashion; but whatever it was that we missed, we don’t even know, and won’t know, until the wreckage is found and studied.
The terrible irony with an accident like this one is that more money has been spent on looking for the wreckage than the families will ever receive. And no matter how much compensation there would be, it could never be enough.
Good things may happen as a result of a search, but it is difficult to define them. For example, look at the search for Air France 447 which sparked a rethinking of the black box. After that crash, battery parameters (for pinging) were a result. If only the battery could last as long as the boxes that protect the data from the weight of the ocean.
MH370 went so far afield, following the pinging of the battery never even came into play.
In the search for a lost plane, improvements are small and out of proportion to the loss. At times, it feels the tools we are working with are like spoons where a forklift is needed. The steps we have taken feel like inches in a journey of infinite miles. And that is what we face here. Until the wreckage is found, the journey is infinite. And I believe one day the wreckage will be found. I hope it will be in time to do some good; and that something will be learned from it to prevent similar accidents from happening again.
Check the date on today’s calendar—it is 2 years ago today.
Two years is a random number. It has been two years, and still the plane is just as lost. The people are just as missing. The families are still reeling. We cry out for justice and compassion for the families of who lost loved ones aboard MH370. For the sake of the families, we hope the calendar will not kill the search.