Malaysia Airlines Ukraine Crash: MH17

The FAA has banned U.S. Flight Routes Over Region and other nations’ air carriers have also adjusted flight routes to avoid the region:

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially sent a Notice to all US flight operators barring all operations within the Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk regions of Eastern Ukraine following the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. The plane is though to have been shot down over the war-torn area.

The FAA has already barred flights in April 2014 throughout the Crimean region of Ukraine, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It seems that they were too late in this instance. I am guessing that other Nations follow what the FAA does in the US to protect their own airlines and passengers.

Flight MH17 is a Boeing 777 plane which was flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. It crashed between the Luhansk and Donetsk regions on Thursday the 17th of July. While the official reason is still unconfirmed, Ukrainian and U.S. officials say that it is highly likely a missile hit the plane. It also also unknown who is responsible for the action.

In their statement, the FAA said there are currently no U.S. flights scheduled or allowed to fly through eastern Ukraine. This will be reviewed again in October.

The route over conflict zones in Eastern Europe was “approved” and “safe,” says Malaysia’s Transport Minister.

In hindsight and with some common sense, flying a passenger aircraft over a conflict zone should probably have been avoided. Especially as a no fly zone was put in place above the Crimean region back in April.

At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, Liow Tiong Lai, the Malaysian Transport Minister denied that Malaysia Airlines had ignored any security warnings and had earlier approved Flight MH17′s request to fly the shorter route over conflict zones in Eastern Europe in order to save time, fuel and money.

Apparently, 15 of the 16 international air carriers from the Asia-Pacific region rely on the flight path over Eastern Ukraine.

According to maps provided by FlightAware.com, in the wake of the horrendous disaster Malaysia Airlines has rerouted its Europe-to-Malaysia flights over the Middle East and India. A flight that departed for Kuala Lumpur from Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport shortly before news of the crash broke appears to have been quickly diverted southward while crossing Poland and heading towards the conflict zone above the Ukraine.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said “The government over whose territory it occurred is responsible for this terrible tragedy,” The fact he has troops and supports in Ukraine is appears to be irrelevant.

About 100 people traveling to a global AIDS conference in Australia were on board the Malaysia Airlines flight that crashed and killed 298 people in eastern Ukraine. The huge loss may stall HIV/AIDS research.

The researchers, health workers and activists were on route to the International AIDS Conference being in Melbourne. Among the victims planning to attend was Dutch national Joep Lange, a top AIDS researcher and former International AIDS Society president. Additionally, Briton Glenn Thomas, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization and a former BBC journalist, was also on flight MH17.