Plane missing en route YCAB?

[RenegadeMan]

God give me the grace...

I too read that one of the females onboard rang someone at Virgin Australia where she worked hoping maybe to be patched through to someone who could help. A truly awful realisation it must have been to know that all was seriously not well. My heart goes out to the families and friends (and the person that took that call if indeed that's what happened).

For me, after a tragedy like this, a prayer is "God give me the grace, wisdom and Truth to never find myself in such a situation & put my family or friends through such a thing".

We all have to be so vigilant not to fall into that false sense of security that can so easily come through pride, ego or any number of attributes of the human condition (not that I'm suggesting Des had succumbed to this). And like Kharon said, there's no way of simulating this stuff and the experience of losing someone close to you through a tragedy like this. The nature of life is that we just don't understand these types of things until we're directly involved (which is why as we speak there are bound to be dozens of street races going on in all different parts of the country involving teenage boys in hotted up cars who think they're **** hot drivers but in reality they probably have about 5% of the understanding of physics & what can go wrong with breaks & what a tyre blow out at speed can do & how innocent bystanders could unwittingly stray into their pathway, etc). Such is the nature of experience.

Thanks for your interactions Jaba & Rotorblades. They're hugely helpful. That story of yours Rotor is a further reminder of how easily a fowlup can happen. That you're here to tell us about it is a miracle in & of itself.

I really appreciate all that ATC does too. A friend I've been flying with for a long time has a son who's just been accepted in Airsevices Australia & is now in Melbourne commencing his ATC training. He has GFPT too & is very committed. I'm looking forward to seeing him become a great asset to aviation.

Ren