Flying in Asia Safe or not?

[steveseymor]

I was on a Shenzhen Airline flight from Shenzhen to Hongqaio airport in Shanghai and on final approach with flaps and landing gear down it was aborted and started climbing any idea why or where you can go to check to see what the problem was.

3 weeks prior I was on a Philippine airlines flight from Hong Kong to Manila and 10 minuates into the flight captain came on intercom and said had to return to terminal ? once landed set in a holding area and the flight was cancelled and stranded at HK for 11 hours before another flight could be arranged. No explanation given for any flight problems

[DaveReidUK]

You're right, all flying in Asia is dangerous.

[llondel]

First one sounds like a standard go-around. Either the flight crew weren't happy with the approach or they were getting too close to the aircraft in front. Going around under those circumstances is normally safer than continuing.

As for the second, better to be o the ground wishing you were in the air than vice versa.

There are certain airlines I'd refuse to fly, and indeed when booking a flight to the area last week I point blank refused the cheapest offering because they were on that list.

[PAXboy]

steveseymor welcome aboard our cabin!

What you described sounds 100% normal and happens around the world every day. If you find that the same airline has many early returns to base - only then might you start to ask questions.

We all want our flight crew to do the safe thing and both of these were the safe thing. Further, with the first event, it might not have been the flight crew but the airport approach controller who asked them go around. For example, if a previous landing aircraft was not going to be clear of the runway before decision moment - then they would tell the next aircraft to go around. Or, they might have been running a check on the runway of some foreign object that was seen and needed to be cleared away to allow a safe landing for you.

Do read our FAQ at the top of the page and look around, it's nice to have someone contribute from the Orient. :ok:

[The SSK]

The starting point for safety is the national licencing authority – each country’s DGCA (Directorate-General for Civil Aviation). If the DGCA’s safety oversight is strong, the airlines of that country will be as safe as anywhere else. If the DGCA is weak or deficient, you may still of course have individual airlines with a strong safety culture but there may be others that slip through the net. The US and the EU both maintain blacklists and watchlists which are a strong incentive to individual states to smarten up their act.

One country springs to mind (its name begins with In and finishes with ia and it’s not India) about which more questions are asked than most. There may be others. But always remember – a million-to-one chance of getting wiped out is twice as bad as two million to one, but it’s still pretty good odds.

[Heathrow Harry]

Flying in Asia is nowhere near as dangerous as flying in Russia or Africa south of the Sahara

But look at the airline and look at the airports- somewhere remote in Indonesia Nepal or PNG flown by a low cost airline is certainly not as safe as a major airline fling into Bangkok or HK

But teh risk is very low really

[ExXB]

My goodness in 20 years I've had three go arounds landing in Geneva. I never thought flying in Europe was so dangerous.

[SeenItAll]

I recently took several domestic flights in China, and was favorably impressed by the professionalism. If you keep to the major carriers, particularly ones who are affiliated with the international alliances (Star, OneWorld, Skyteam), I don't think you will have too much to worry about. (The major international airlines in the alliances do some substantial investigation before they decide to share ticketing and flight codes with other airlines -- they don't want their own customers being killed :))

[ExXB]

Any IATA member (http://www.iata.org/about/members/Pages/airline-list.aspx) is IOSA certified (http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/safety/audit/iosa/Pages/index.aspx).

[jetjockey696]

Yep... even Air Koryo (NOrth Korea national airlines) is IATA member..:ok:

[Metro man]

Fly on wide body aircraft operated by major airlines, in good weather between large, well equipped airports and you will probably die of old age before anything bad happens.

Fly on smaller jets and turboprops operated by third level airlines in developing countries in bad weather into marginal airports and you better get life insurance so your family have something to live on.;)

[ExXB]

JetJockey. Other than a non-scheduled IL62 incident in 1982 (23 fatalities) I don't think Air Koryo has a bad safety record. I believe some of their fleet is off the EC blacklist.

Mind you, they don't fly very much.

[calippl]

"Flying in Asia is nowhere near as dangerous as flying in Russia or Africa south of the Sahara

But look at the airline and look at the airports- somewhere remote in Indonesia Nepal or PNG flown by a low cost airline is certainly not as safe as a major airline fling into Bangkok or HK

But teh risk is very low really"

My experience of flying in Southern Africa is that they can be blase regarding safety.

On a flight form Windhoek to Jo'burg (on an almost empty aircraft) my friend and I laid out across the seats to sleep. We wakened when the aircraft landed!!!!! Flight attendants didn't waken us to sit up and put seatbelts on :(

[BOSSIE]

DaveReidUK You're right, all flying in Asia is dangerous.

Beg to differ there Dave. Flying in Japan at least is arguably very safe. ANA- JAL - JETSTAR- etc at least all generally well serviced & commanded.

[The SSK]

You had better have your irony detector serviced, it doesn't seem to be working

[DaveReidUK]

I did think of adding a smiley, but it didn't occur to me that it might be necessary. :O

[joy ride]

I think Dave was being ironic. He really meant to say ALL flying is dangerous, even birds!