Flight 370: Still hoping for a miracle

If you’re a typical sports fan there’s a lot to be excited about right now. March Madness is about to begin its round of “sweet” 16, the NHL and NBA are only a few weeks away from the playoffs and the start of baseball season is on the horizon. We are entering a great period for fanfare, but even as a long time dedicated fan it’s hard to get enthused about any particular sports story while the drama regarding Malaysia Air Flight 370 excruciatingly unfolds on live television daily. Today a bombshell press release by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, stated that the flight definitively crashed into the south Indian Sea. Now we collectively wait while international search, rescue and recovery teams narrow their efforts in the deep water region – a seemingly insurmountable task.
Over the past 17 days, almost on an hourly basis new clues have been leaked or officially provided and an abundance of surprisingly plausible theories have evolved and it has provided riveting programming. I personally haven’t watched this amount of concentrated television, over a two-week period, namely CNN, in many years. How a commercial airliner with 239 passengers can completely vanish and be open to so many possible explanations is difficult to comprehend in today’s technologically omnipresent world.
Equally dumbfounding is the way in which the Malaysian government has mishandled this crisis every step of the way. The decision to communicate the fatal outcome to the victims’ families via text merely cements the puzzling and often distasteful decision-making by government officials. Critics have been correct to question the veil of secrecy surrounding the Malaysian government’s handling of information and the dissemination of vital facts. At times they have been guilty of providing contradictory and often misleading information which has undoubtedly negatively impacted the investigation. All the while the world has been searching the depths of the Indian Sea, the South China Sea, neighboring islands, remote landing strips in all directions, India, Pakistan and so on. Even Courtney Love was looking. God bless her soul.
The world wants to find Flight 370 for closure for the victims, but also to find out what exactly happened to this mysterious flight. We also collectively want to hope that something miraculous has happened and that somehow there are survivors somewhere. Until the plane has been found, in whatever form, we hold out hope however unlikely or futile. For now we wait and wonder what might have happened on the night of March 8, 2014. Could a mechanical failure or fire have occurred which resulted in depressurizing the plane, leaving it to fly on auto pilot until it ran out of fuel, with everyone dead on board for 6 or more hours as the “zombie theory” postulates? Is this an act of a mad man acting out for political, religious or personal reasons? Was it a strange and methodical suicide mission? Perhaps it was a hostage taking or an act of piracy gone wrong? Les Abend an experienced 777 pilot and nightly panel contributor to this story on CNN, has maintained from the start that some kind of accident unfolded. His assertions may very well hold true, but there are still so many questions that remain unanswered.
Even at this time, there is doubt regarding the actual outcome of Malaysia Air Flight 370. The victims’ families are publicly asking to see proof that the flight is indeed somewhere in the Indian Ocean. And their right in demanding answers. At this point I don’t think it would surprise anyone if the Malaysian Prime Minister rescinded his comments from earlier today. This investigation and rescue and recovery mission has been cluttered by misinformation and a lack of certainty. The plane may be lying on the bottom of the ocean, but until it’s found can you blame the victims’ families for trying to cling onto hope that their loved ones are still alive? So many of us watching from far, who are not connected to the passengers want the same. We all want to bear witness to a miracle – even if it doesn’t involve a sports team this time of year.