We've easily obtained proof of maintenance fraud, excessive hours, illegal flight and regulations that include orders forbidding declarations of emergency at multiple Thai-based airlines. (The FAA has all of this proof as well.) The information clearly shows an unwillingness or inability by the DCA to provide oversight as well as a deep lack of concern for human life.
Furthermore, Thai-based airlines are viewing non western-trained pilots and engineers as cheaper and more malleable equivalents to those trained in western methods. As the western-trained staff depart, so goes the final safety net.
IMO, a person traveling on a Thai-based airline should consider their safety in these ways:
- Am I planning to fly an airline with a commitment to safety?
- If the answer to 1 is "no' or "unknown", then: Are the pilots on this particular flight properly and deeply experienced in western-based aviation?
For thoughts about the broader issue of corruption, here is an interesting article from yesterday's Boston Globe on
The Culture of Corruption.
(Christie: Hope you find help getting your beasts safely ferried out.)