THE CHINA EASTERN BOEING 737-800 crash has prompted a mass of disinformation from the internet. These range from duplicitous videos which only at the end say that it was not another Boeing Max crash, to outright deceit with fake videos from other crashes – most notably the Silk Air 737-300 crash that happened 25 years earlier, where the video shows the empennage having broken away.
Many analysts are weary of having to point out that the crash is unrelated to the 737 Max. The requirement to do so shows that the Max, and Boeing’s reputation, are still very much in the public consciousness, even as hundreds of Max jets fly unremarked around the world.
Unfortunately, the China Eastern crash might further extend the long wait for Max jets to fly again in China, on the grounds of its stained reputation.
For China’s huge aviation industry, this crash is the first fatal one since 2010. And within the wider context of airline safety, the industry has a remarkable safety record, as was reflected in IATA’s data.
Those with an understanding of the industry quietly aver that more information must emerge before conclusions can be drawn. Yet they get drowned out by the worthless noise. Thankfully, at time of writing, both the China Eastern Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder have been recovered. Hopefully they will have survived enough to yield key information.
The few fresh details released via official Chinese media channels show failed attempts by air traffic control to contact the aircraft as the incident occurred.
The lack of ATC transmissions by the aircraft is puzzling.
Despite the paucity of reliable data, the airline industry’s ability to connect the world depends on it doing everything possible to establish why catastrophic incidents have occurred, before acting on any recommendations. In this crash the first part of that process may take considerable time.
‘click-bait lies which African airlines would do well to study’
Darren Edward O’Neil is our artist responsible for Hugh Pryor’s illustrations. He remarks that, in the light of the tidal wave of; “fake news following any world event, who are these people who create these fake stories and fake imagery, and what is their motivation? It is incredibly juvenile in that it achieves nothing – it’s one thing to make fake news in a campaign during a conflict or war situation, but in a tragedy like this what possible gains can be had from publishing a fake story as fact when we all know the cause and truth will ultimately come to light?
“[It is] just bizarre, my general thinking is that any theory released before the preliminary and final report is speculation and hearsay – particularly in a crash as puzzling and devastating as this with so much riding on the answers.”
The tragedy of this crash shows the interweb at its worst. The web is spewing misinformation and click-bait lies which African airlines would do well to study as part of their own disaster management plans.
