ICAO marks first anniversary of MH370 disappearance
The first anniversary of the tragic loss and disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which occurred on March 8, 2014; is being marked by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The ICAO extends its continued sympathies to the families of the passengers and crew who are yet to be found, and its ongoing support to all states and agencies still involved in related search efforts, a statement issued by the ICAO and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Saturday said.
It said 2014 represented one of aviation’s safest years in terms of how few accidents were recorded, but events relating to MH370 and the later downing of MH17 identified some important gaps which could arise under rare operational circumstances.
The statement said: “The aviation community is now addressing those gaps and we will continue to make the safety of our passengers and aircraft our highest priority.
“Responding to the loss of MH370, Chicago Convention signatory states recently set forth important new recommendations at ICAO’s second High-Level Safety Conference (HLSC), held at our Headquarters in February of this year.”
It said at that conference, participants recommended the adoption of ICAO’s Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System (GADSS), including its near-term 15-minute tracking objective for normal flight operations and its one-minute distress and abnormal flight tracking requirement.
It said the GADSS concept of operations was developed in 2014 by the Working Group ICAO established immediately after MH370’s disappearance.
The statement said its 15-minute and one-minute tracking provisions were currently projected to become applicable in 2016 and 2021 respectively.
“These new tracking requirements, as well as the first assistance and implementation exercises relating to them which ICAO expects to complete by August of this year, will provide both states and operators with a clearer path forward and greatly improve the ability of search and rescue professionals to locate downed aircraft in remote areas.
“The aviation sector has also learned from MH370 that we must respond to even very rare events in our network when there is a question of public trust involved,” it said.
The statement said the loss of MH370 represented, in a general sense, a one-in-100-million flight event for global aviation, and yet our community has reacted to its loss cooperatively and as a matter of high priority.
“Accident and fatality prevention still remain our most fundamental safety priorities in aviation, and it is, therefore, our great hope that MH370 can eventually be found so that the lessons relating to how and why it was lost will be understood and actioned to the benefit of future passengers and crew,” it said.
Source: GNA