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| Boeing 777-200ER of Malaysian Airlines |
Since aircraft are sometimes called flagships, why can't a flagship and its piloting also be used as a metaphor, epitome, or analogy in place of an ocean going vessel to represent "the ship of state?"
We have used the infamous ocean vessel, the Titanic, as a metaphor that illustrates a ship of state (Titanic Mistakes Using The W Compass).
Instead of using only the Titanic, today let's use a combination of the Titanic, Air France flight 447 which crashed in 2009, as well as Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.
Let's also remember that empires, just like a smaller ship of state, can disappear from history.
The reason for the demise of the Roman Empire and the Mayan Empire are examples of cases where there are differing opinions about how and why they "went down."
This extends to cases of ocean travel where ships can completely disappear and to air travel like Emelia Earhart becoming lost, or military aircraft squads that disappeared in the fabled "Bermuda Triangle" during WWII (cf. Time).
There are even myths and legends about entire civilizations going down, as depicted by the current movie "Noah" or the fabled continent of Atlantis.
There are differences and similarities with all of these cases, and one of the interesting similarities is The Global Climate System which produces our weather.
Another interesting factor of the Titanic and Air France flight 447 disasters involve both having two navigation / control systems, which led to conflict and confusion:
[RE: Titanic]In both cases there was an initial captain's decision to not take weather very seriously, even though both "ships of state" faced serious weather problems, and there were in both cases conflicting command systems operating at the worst possible times.
Two different [steering] systems were in operation at the time, Rudder Orders (used for steam ships) and Tiller Orders (used for sailing ships).
Crucially, Mrs Patten said, the two steering systems were the complete opposite of one another, so a command to turn 'hard a-starboard' meant turn the wheel right under one system and left under the other."
She said when the helmsman, who had been trained in sail, received the direction, he turned the vessel [to the right] towards the iceberg with tragic results. (Titanic Mistakes Using The W Compass)
[RE: Air France flight 447]
Unlike the control yokes of a Boeing jetliner, the side sticks on an Airbus are "asynchronous"—that is, they move independently. "If the person in the right seat is pulling back on the joystick, the person in the left seat doesn't feel it," says Dr. David Esser, a professor of aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "Their stick doesn't move just because the other one does, unlike the old-fashioned mechanical systems like you find in small planes, where if you turn one, the [other] one turns the same way." Robert has no idea that, despite their conversation about descending, Bonin has continued to pull back on the side stick.
The men are utterly failing to engage in an important process known as crew resource management, or CRM. They are failing, essentially, to cooperate. It is not clear to either one of them who is responsible for what, and who is doing what. This is a natural result of having two co-pilots flying the plane. "When you have a captain and a first officer in the cockpit, it's clear who's in charge," Nutter explains. "The captain has command authority. He's legally responsible for the safety of the flight. When you put two first officers up front, it changes things. You don't have the sort of traditional discipline imposed on the flight deck when you have a captain." (What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447)
For example, Air France flight 447 was flying during the beginning of hurricane season, was flying in an area where hurricanes form, and was approaching a major tropical storm area (All the other aircraft that fateful day contacted air traffic control and asked for coordinates so they could fly around and avoid the tropical storm; likewise the captain of the Titanic had been warned by other ships of icebergs in the area, but heedlessly continued on apace).
We are aware of the fate of the Titanic and the Air France flight, but are we aware that these cases reflect on the ship of state of America and the world? (cf. Rogue Storms Sneaking Up On Us?, Rogue Storms Sneaking Up On Us? - 2).
Our nation and civilization are facing serious Climate Change problems that are also catastrophic because we continue to damage The Global Climate System which generates our weather, including serious storms, droughts, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, melting polar ice caps, and rising ocean levels.
Our captains of our ships of state, like those in the case of the Titanic and Air France, are going full stream ahead, straight into the storm of disaster.
Likewise, conflicting steering systems exist within nations and among nations, both at national capitols as well as at the United Nations.
Like the doomed vessels with citizens on board, the danger of national doom is increasing daily.
One example is that one segment of government (one part of the crew) believes in the science of climate change, while another segment of government (another part of the crew) thinks that the climate change data that is telling us we are heading for danger is nothing to worry about because it is a hoax.
Thus, the crew members are wrestling with each other over the controls:
A majority of Senate Democrats on Monday will launch an overnight "talkathon" until approximately 9:00 a.m. Tuesday to draw attention to climate change.(Dems Overnight Talk on Climate Change). The republicans will not take the demonstration seriously, since they feel that there is no problem, rather there is only a hoax, and so wrestling with each other for control continues unabated.
The overnight effort, organized by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is part of the recently launched Senate Climate Action Task Force headed by Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
In a statement, Boxer said Democrats want to "wake up Congress" to the dangers of climate change.
The marathon session is not technically a filibuster in part because there is no legislation under debate, but overnight sessions are rare and likely to draw media attention to the topic — which is precisely the goal.
...
The Democratic effort is cause for some confusion because these senators are calling for action in a chamber they control but without any specific legislation to offer up for a vote, or any timetable for action this year.
The fate of our nation, then, and civilization itself, is also a mystery at this time.
As to the other mystery, there is still no confirmation that the Malaysian Flight 370 aircraft wreckage has been located.
It is all the more a mystery, what with no mayday call, no distress signal, no communication about any problems, no debris field yet, and the aircraft disappearing from the face of the Earth with 239 people aboard.
Some reports about stolen passports and other relevant factors bring up the possibility of terrorism.
Which is like Oil-Qaeda terrorists damaging or destroying our climate system and our ship of state with their fossil fuel drug business.
UPDATE (3/13/14): The Malaysian Flight 370 aircraft is still missing. Meanwhile we also still wonder where the ship of state "America" has been taken.
The next post of this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.
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