On July 28, Air Blue Flight 202 crashed in the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad. It was the last flight ever for 146 passengers and six crew. The accident happened during a July rainstorm six years ago, I believe the people aboard should be remembered.

The only survivors were the family members. No one aboard lived.

That means that the families of 152 people have had to learn to live with the memories of their loved ones. Most of them have probably traveled to the memorial to see their loved ones names written in stone. Stone will remember what people may forget.

The accident has been labeled pilot error, but those are just words. Some called the fatal flaw CRM, which is an acronym referring to how well the crew inter-managed resources, i.e. themselves. The final report has been completed and filed and put away.

And the victims are still dead. I could wish for a world of magic reality where the investigation would solve some thing, and somehow put the passengers back in their lives. Or even better, change the events of the past so that the flight never happened.

But magic reality does not exist. All that exists is the truth of what happened, the lessons of the past, and the hope that the aviation industry learned whatever it could to prevent such accidents in the future.

The tragedy is a stain on 2010, and forever a wound in the hearts of the families of those whose lives were pointlessly lost. Families, please know that even if the accident is no longer in the global eye, we are so sorry for your loss. No one can say it better than John Donne:

Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.