Make Air Travel Safer

Yug Bahadur

 It was the first day of the Nepali month of Magh, a day which is celebrated with much enthusiasm by different communities. But as still most Nepali people are very tolerant and harmonious, they celebrate all festivities with glee and happy tidings. It was on the same day last week, but suddenly a report making the rounds and which was also swiftly spread on the internet media and broadcast channels said how an aircraft had crashed while it was about to land in Pokhara, a tourist hotspot of this country, and which really is a beautiful place and naturally this news upset everybody.

Soon, a pall of gloom fell on most people, as air accidents are always shocking, not only when it happens in our own country, but when it occurs anywhere in the world. People all across the country started to speak about the tragic incident and naturally there were also false details leaked by people who wanted to mislead the public. This may sound a bit unpopular statement, but it was annoying to see crowds of people thronging the crash site, not to help in any sort of rescue, but to take photographs. Yes, this is the time of Facebook, TikTok and other social media, but wanting to be seen in the internet even during tragic moments is not ‘social’.

Tragic air mishap 

Now to go a little bit off this tragic air accident, one must admit that travelling is definitely a dangerous outing for any individual. Forget air travel, the conditions on the roads and also highways are terrifying. Neither is it safe if you are a simple pedestrian. It does not matter who is at fault, the thing is that you are in danger even while just walking to buy vegetables, travelling on a bus, riding a motorcycle or going to some far destinations. You cannot assume what can happen due to the carelessness of one person or the other.

It is not that such accidents don’t happen in other parts of the world, even the countries with the stringent of regulations see similar accidents, but here, accidents seem common. Even standup comedians make jokes of how heavy vehicles kill people on the streets, whether they are just walking or riding on smaller vehicles like two wheelers for instance. The international sector has been already alerted about the dangerous travel situation in Nepal and none less than the United Nations has started a programme for safety awareness here, but the authorities do not seem to be too keen to heed such suggestions and create more awareness. Forget the lack of private airlines which buy old aircraft, even in road travel, the authorities seem to be nonchalant. 

Just one week of road awareness programmes are not enough. This author had written decades back how traffic awareness must be included from primary education, so that the people could be safe and also our roads could be safer. But sadly this has not happened. In fact, with the enticement of business houses to make people buy vehicles in easy installments, the hordes of vehicles has not only made our roads more chaotic, but also unsafe. It may take some time to change the attitude of vehicle drivers that they don’t own the roads and also for the pedestrians to obey certain rules which will keep themselves away from unwanted accidents.

The most surprising thing is everyone seems to be in a hurry. Once I had written in this daily itself how I had boasted to a foreigner what we Nepalis had that they didn’t have was time. In those days, we could just stroll across the streets, look up at the blue unpolluted sky and say a few prayers, watch clever individuals trying to attract people or just sit in the warmth of the sun either munching peanuts or drinking tea. But those days seem to have gone now and we are like most others always in a hurry to get somewhere first, no matter what difficulties they may be creating for others. This is totally deviating from the traditional Nepali style of putting the interests of the other person first, whether a fellow countryman or a foreigner.

But to come back to the tragic air mishap in Pokhara, the way many speculations are being made is not good, either for travel business or for the travelers. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has done well by appealing to everyone not to make such speculations, even if they are familiar with the complicated intricacies that ensure safe air travel. It is a trend of virtually all airlines to blame pilot error whenever an air accident takes place, but it was really distressing to hear even in a subdued way the blame being put on a young female pilot for the mishap in Pokhara. There should be no questions on who are better pilots, especially in terms of gender. 

Human error

Yes, everyone is a human and human errors can take place, but not because of any difference in whether they are men or women. At a time when only sympathy for all should come to the fore, it is really stooping very low and hitting below the belt to make even subdued remarks that the air crash may have taken place just because a female pilot was guiding the airplane. The senior instructor pilot, who was a male, should also have been equally alert and guided the younger female pilot. The major thing is for all our authorities and also the airlines to really prove that air travel is the safest mode of travel throughout the world. 

Nepal has a difficult terrain, but our pilots are also fully aware of this factor and they have also gone through stringent training before being commercial pilots and they know the difficulties they face while flying in the country where they have been born. But whatever, we mourn this tragic incident and feel sad for all those who lost their loved ones in the mishap and let us hope that both our skies and roads will be safer in the days to come, with the strict vigilance of the authorities and better sense of those people who must take safety first before thinking of getting to their destination fast.

     (Yug Bahadur is a freelancer.)