Growing Group Of Aviation Experts Point To Bad Asian Driving As Culprit In Malaysia Airlines Disasters
Poor Asian Orientation And Concentration Seen On Roadways Might Be Deadly In Commerical Airliners And Could Be The Cause Of The Malysian Airlines Flight 17 Catastrophe
Published July 19, 2014
By KRISTINA NGU, MATT HUSSFORD, ALEXIS SHAWNEE, LEEZEL TANGLO and DEAN SCHABNERBERG
ROZSYPNE, UKRAINE – The blood-encrusted corpses from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 still litter the lush sunflower fields of the modest village of Rozsypne, Ukraine. Yet already critics in the aviation industry and in the halls of Western governments are speaking in hushed tones about what may be the latest instance of Bad Asian Driving (“BAD”) downing a commercial airliner. Some aviation experts are lobbying for immediate measures, including even banning Asian pilots on international flights – even as just passengers.
BAD first became a word used in aviation circles after the devastating crash of an Asiana Airlines’ Boeing 777 in San Francisco. Even after that disaster, few would admit out loud what now appears to be all too obvious: BAD has gone from being a threat on the roadways to becoming a cold-blooded killer in the skies. Soon after the Asiana crash, Malaysia Airlines have lost two aircraft after they went off course.
In this latest disaster, a degree of blame has fallen on pro-Russian Ukrainian rebels – blame further fueled by American reports Friday that the missile that downed the jet came from rebel territory. But a larger question looms why the aircraft was traveling over a war zone and a part of Ukraine that has been marked “off limits” by international aviation authorities.
U.S. military satellite data shows that Flight MH17 veered north (the pilot's left) when it should have veered south (the pilot's right). Some believe that the pilot took corrective action to return to the proper flight path, but this took the plane over the combat area.
According to Santa Marino professor of comparative neurology Bruno Giordano, the flight path of MH17 is “textbook bad Asian driving.” Giordono said in a telephone interview late Saturday, “This is what you see in urban areas all the time where Asian drivers make a wrong turn into a bad neighborhood.” Giordano’s studies show that BAD results not from simply poor eyesight but anatomical differences in Asian’s brains that results in poor concentration and confusion. “A lot of racists like to say that Asians can't see because they have squinty eyes,” said Giordano. “But it's just their parietal lobes in their brains.”
“If you look at the flight path, it is obvious based on my studies that the pilot turned left when he should have turned right due to BAD disorientation,” said Giordano. “The parallels with Korean Airlines Flight 007 that flew into Soviet airspace are sobering." In 1983 a Soviet Union interceptor shot down a Korean Airlines Boeing 747 en route to Seoul, Korea from New York. After the release of records following the fall of the Soviet Union it was revealed that the Asian pilot flew 150 miles off course.
Retired Air Force colonel and frequent cable news contributor Hank Aldrin believes that BAD needs to be a part of the discussion to prevent another disaster. “Whether in the air or on the ground, common sense has to be used,” he said. “Would you want an Asian woman drive a 40-ton tractor trailer through your neighborhood? Well, these aircraft can weigh 400 tons.”
To date the National Transportation Safety Board has refused to acknowledge that BAD is a concern for airline safety. In a sign that things might change very soon, NTSB Chair Deborah Hersman tweeted yesterday that, “We might have to research this ‘Asian driver’ phenomenon.”
Some observers believe that there is much pressure – perhaps not all unfounded – in the West to place blame on Russian-supported rebels in eastern Ukraine. This could obscure issues surrounding BAD, which worries Prof. Giordono. “If my cab driver gets lost, drives us into a gang-infested ghetto, and we get shot, doesn’t the driver have responsibility?” he asked.
Singapore Airways has long preferred Caucasian pilots. It has given the explanation that its European customers were “more comfortable” with them.
The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, carrying 298 passengers and crew.
Correction: July 20 2014
A prior version of this article carried the wrong dateline. It is Rozsypne, not Kiev
