Thanking our lucky stars

At a time when nothing seems to be going right for us as a country, it is easy to see the crash of American Airlines flight 331at the Norman Manley International Airport Tuesday night as yet another sign of our woes.

However, even our worst pessimist can appreciate our extreme good luck in that the crash took no lives so far and critical injuries were at a minimum. The sight of the mangled remains of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft which broke into several parts and teetering on the edge of the sea, suggests that Jamaica was spared a disaster and carnage of monumental proportions.

The country was already bracing for a tax package which, no matter how the Government reworks it, will still be a bitter pill to swallow, coming on top of the previous two packages to squeeze a further $47 billion from already burdened Jamaicans. This incident, had it been worse, would have completely killed what was left of the Christmas spirit.

So, we have much for which to give thanks and those who pray should already be on their knees expressing gratitude for God's intervention in saving the lives of a possible 158 passengers who, importantly, are loved ones of a large number of people who would have been thrown into great mourning.

Still, the incident is a sad reminder of how fickle life can be and in the twinkling of an eye, can be snuffed out. Obviously, we would have preferred that the accident had not happened at all. But of greater relevance, and we have a very keen interest in that, is finding out what transpired in pelting rain in the dying hours of Tuesday night.

Jamaican authorities, with the assistance of a team of investigators from the Washington-based National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), have started the work of trying to determine why AA flight 331 overshot the runway, mowed down a perimeter fence, crossed the Port Royal Road and broke into several parts before coming to rest on the beach a few few away from the sea.

The investigators will no doubt be looking into claims that poor lighting of the runway might have been a factor. They will also want to determine whether our airport emergency apparatus worked, and if not, why not.

While it will never be possible to avoid all accidents, we can learn important things about our preparedness from those that occur. For that reason, we don't like kneejerk reactions that immediately start pointing fingers, until all or most of the facts are in.

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