PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Air Asia Indonesia Lost Contact from Surabaya to Singapore
Old 17th Jan 2015, 09:37
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onetrack
 
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bud leon is correct - and the Indonesian divers merit special acknowledgment for their outstanding recovery efforts in conditions that are dangerous in the extreme.
Western divers would be looking for bravery awards under the conditions that the Indonesian divers are working in.

These divers have not only been battling strong and reversing currents - they have been travelling out to the wreckage sites in 2M to 4M waves and enduring violent seasickness as well.
They have been diving to extreme depths, at their diving limit. Then they have had to deal with low levels of visibility, as well as the potential finding of human remains staring back at them. It's not a job I'd volunteer for.

They have not had the luxury of ROV's or mini-subs or other exotic equipment, as many Western nations would produce and use.
They have done an admirable job of finding the wreckage and recovering some of it, in surface weather that has been less than favourable, more often than it has been favourable.

Cut the Indonesians some slack, I'm sure they are just as interested in improving their SAR skills, and finding the real reasons behind the crash, as any of us are.

The fact that a few of the middle-management Indonesians got a little excited and made pronouncements that were guesses, more than actual knowledge, is no reason to write off the whole exercise as one of total incompetence.
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