Here's the thing: the MD-11 will soon be grounded.
No question in my mind. Failure to do so will see massive lawsuits against a company flying that bird that suffers an even remotely similar accident.
Doubt it?
Imagine another CLK accident only the flightless, hapless airframe is now a raging fireball turned upside down with 300 passengers hanging outa their seat belts, burning alive.
Nightmare, true, but a very real possibility. The above is not a figment of a wild imagination. And on that score, lawyers around the world would be drawing up response scenarios right now.
But with every cloud, there's a ray of sunshine.
With the grounding of the MD-11, well positioned cargo operators will reap hay while that sun shines. Yeah, I'm down about the crew. Who isn't? But as tough and as dark as things may be, life moves on.