It's this kind of casual attitude that I find extremely frightening. No matter if it's Friday or any other day of the week; no matter if it's "calm", no matter what time of day or night it is. An aircraft disappeared from ATC radar and it seems that no one was sufficiently concerned to alert all relevant authorities until six or seven hours after the event. You think that's OK?
That's the wrong question. Let me tell you what I think is extremely frightening. I think it's extremely frightening when people obsess about the last accident as an excuse to avoid thinking about a rational approach to policy. There is no such thing as a risk-less world; it doesn't exist and human being can't make one--we don't have the power.
So the question isn't whether or not losing a plane is OK. It's not OK. The question is what are the costs and benefits to society of one course of action over another? And that means the question is whether losing a plane is an
acceptable risk. And given how few planes are actually lost my answer to that question is yes, it is an acceptable risk to lose a plane.