For over a month the world has been on the edge of their seats dying from anticipation on the exact location of the Malaysian plane…….we have had NO news only speculation for that month…….here debris…there debris……and a ping or two…..well as of yesterday there is a good possibility that the pings heard may be the missing plane……which will be good….I am sick of all the “experts” and their wild eyed speculation…….
All that aside I was wondering….what is the cost of this search? And now there is an answer to that question……….
As searchers listen for pings in the Indian Ocean that might help them find the missing Flight 370, Reuters assesses the cost of the hunt after a month and finds that it’s on track to become the most expensive search in aviation history. Reuters figures that the militaries of Australia, China, the US, and Vietnam have spent $44 million already, about the amount spent in the two-year search for the Air France jet that went missing in 2009. The $44 million total doesn’t take into account civilian aircraft or the cost of accommodating hundreds of intelligence analysts and other personnel worldwide. Add those expenses in, and the total is in the “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Australia is leading the search and has borne about half the costs so far, though Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the nation may ask others to defray its expenses later. “At some point, there might need to be a reckoning, there might need to be some kind of tallying, but nevertheless we are happy to be as helpful as we can to all the countries that have a stake in this,” he said. The Pentagon estimates that the US has spent $3.3 million so far. With no sign of the pings in two days, the search could drag on and on, reports AP. Australia plans to release a submersible to scan the ocean floor, but it hopes to get a more precise location before doing so.
Now I would like to ask…..Is this desperate search to save Boeing’s rep or is it for the closure of the families? That may sound like a cold hearted question….but it needs to be asked…….for one reason…..we are spending money willy nilly but yet those poor people needing help are “free loaders”….I understand the need for closure……but at what price?
Generally speaking, Australia and Malaysia do not get along. In fact, they hate us, and we’re rude to them… deliberately. With that in mind, Australia is quietly enjoying having control over the search.
It is important to know what happend on and to this aircraft. It behaved in a most peculia way. The avaition industry needs to know what happend in order that it does not happen again. Air travel is only as safe as it is because from every accident a little something new is learned; and consequenty engineering adjustments are made and proceedure manuels are changed.
It could cost a lot more if this mystery is not solved and it happens again.
I am guessing that this is a one time mystery….but how long will they be willing to throw money at it?