Reports arrive at this desk soaked in gin and cynicism. A shocking revelation: the Air India crash investigation has ignited a transatlantic row over aviation safety standards. Yes, while the families mourn and the wreckage still smoulders, the suits are having a splendid little spat about who writes the rulebook.
How utterly predictable. It appears the Americans want to point fingers at Indian maintenance protocols while the British are defending their own precious regulations with the ferocity of a bulldog guarding a bone. The whole affair resembles a particularly tedious episode of a parliamentary debate performed by airline executives on a 747 with only one functioning engine.
The casualties? Common sense. The passengers?
The flying public, once again forced to trust that the people in charge aren't too busy squabbling over turf to keep the planes from falling out of the sky. One might suggest that instead of arguing about whose standards are superior, they might consider that the only standard that matters is the one that prevents metal from crumpling into the Earth. But no, that would require a modicum of humility and cooperation, two qualities in chronic short supply among the aviation elite.
So we wait, with baited breath and empty glasses, as the circus continues.
