UK pilots today expressed sympathy with family and friends of the missing pilots, crew and passengers of flight MH370 after the announcement by the Malaysian Prime Minister that new evidence shows that the aircraft likely crashed in the south Indian Ocean. The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has pledged pilot support for a patient and painstaking investigation into the tragic accident to find out exactly what happened and to prevent it happening again. BALPA also supports a parallel investigation into how airlines, manufacturers and pilots can work together internationally to improve the tracking of aircraft, which would be of great benefit to investigators in accidents like this.
BALPA General Secretary Jim McAuslan said: “The thoughts of UK pilots and the wider pilot community are with the friends and families of the MH370 pilots, crew and passengers. Now it is confirmed that the aircraft went down in the ocean a painstaking and patient approach is needed to try to establish the cause of this tragic incident. This approach will take time but lead to the detailed facts which will enable pilots to push for any improvements to make every single flight a safe one and stop this type of event happening in future.
“Pilots will work with airlines, manufacturers and regulators internationally to look at how we can improve the tracking of aircraft and reduce the anguish for friends and family of missing pilots, crew and passengers in these rare occurrences.”