Mishaps, misbehaviour - misflying?

The news constantly provide food for chatter no matter how old or how young you are. However, it was startling to see the general news today attracting seasoned adults and youngsters alike. On Facebook today, I saw some comments from young teens on the news.

From the tragedy of a teenager's untimely death for being at the wrong place at the wrong time to 747 Boeings hovering just above the highest point of the KL Twin Towers, many had a lot to say. And ala the New York population some time ago who got jittery when Air Force One was seen fying too low above the cosmopolitan, KLites were up in arms.


Now here is a PR exercise turned quite wrong. While it was a wonderful idea to bring cheer and joy to the 300 passengers of underprivileged and terminally-ill children, the panic it created showed a lack of concern for the very public MAS derives its income from.


Or is memory so short - that last year's news in the US failed to warn the MAS PR department that maybe it would be a good idea to inform the public of their good intentions - this could have been turned into a pre-event press release which would also boost the CSR stunt (yes, stunt it was)! Of course hind-sight is 20/20 but foresight in this instance would have showed a great deal of professionalism. As it is now, MAS had to backtrack and state all the reasons (which the public had no knowledge of) why the flight was safe, all safety conditions were met and the pilots chosen were the best for the job. What an end to a PR exercise with a whole dose of good intention.


And I would really like to know what was the role of a DCA air traffic controller on board ? Was he to be the escape clause if something went wrong?


Well, at least, this joy flight above the KL skyline showed me that young Malaysians care enough to read the news and debate on it. And that is a good thing, I am sure.