在亞太地區(qū)坐飛機究竟安全嗎

Concerns Over Safety of Air Travel in Asia

在亞太地區(qū)坐飛機究竟安全嗎

Fatal crashes of Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and TransAsia Airways planes in the past year have prompted travelers to raise questions about the safety of Asian carriers and whether steps are being taken to ensure their security.

在過去一年中，馬來西亞航空、亞洲航空(AirAsia)和復興航空(TransAsia Airways)的致命事故令旅行者對亞洲航運公司的安全性以及這些公司是否正在采取措施確保安全提出質(zhì)疑。

Officials said at least 35 people died Wednesday morning when a TransAsia twin turboprop crashed into the Keelung River shortly after leaving the downtown Taipei Songshan Airport. Fifty-eight passengers (31 of whom were Chinese nationals) were on board the flight bound for the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands located near Xiamen in southeastern China. The Aviation Safety Council in Taiwan said Friday that the plane had trouble with its engines before the crash.

官員們稱，周三早上，復興航空公司的一架雙渦輪螺旋槳飛機從臺北市中心的松山機場起飛后不久墜入基隆河，至少導致35人死亡。機上的58名乘客(其中31人來自中國大陸)本計劃飛往金門島。金門由臺灣控制，離中國東南部的廈門市不遠。周五，臺灣飛航安全調(diào)查委員會稱，飛機墜毀前，引擎出現(xiàn)故障。

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing (and has yet to be found) en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8 with 239 on board, and Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was apparently shot down by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17 with none of the 298 passengers and crew surviving.

去年3月8日，馬來西亞航空公司的370航班在從馬來西亞吉隆坡飛往北京途中失蹤(至今仍未找到)，機上共有239人。去年7月17日，馬航17航班在烏克蘭東部明顯被地對空導彈擊落，機上的298名乘客和機組人員無一生還。

On Dec. 28, 162 lives were lost when AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea less than an hour into its flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. AirAsia is based at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and is part of the AirAsia Group, which also has its headquarters in Malaysia.

去年12月28日，亞航8501航班從印度尼西亞泗水飛往新加坡，起飛后不到一小時墜入爪哇海，共有162人喪生。亞航位于吉隆坡國際機場，隸屬于亞航集團，該集團的總部也在馬來西亞。

Despite being operated by Asian carriers, the circumstances of the crashes varied, according to investigations into each.

盡管這些航班都是亞洲的航空公司運營的，但是根據(jù)每起事故的調(diào)查結果，失事情況各不相同。

Indonesian investigators are gradually learning and revealing more about the AirAsia crash after securing the flight data recorder and cockpit recorder last month. They announced two weeks ago that the Airbus A320-200 was climbing at an excessive rate before disappearing from radar, and officials said last week that the co-pilot was in control of Flight 8501 during its last radio transmission.

印度尼西亞調(diào)查者在上月獲得飛行數(shù)據(jù)記錄器和駕駛艙記錄儀后，正在逐步獲悉并公布亞航失事飛機的更多情況。兩周前，他們宣布，空客A320-200在從雷達上消失前，曾以過高的速度爬升。上周，官員們說，在最后一次無線電通話中，操縱8501航班的是副駕駛員。

Also last week, the Malaysia Department of Civil Aviation officially called Flight 370 an accident, which should make it easier for victims’ families to start receiving compensation from Malaysia Airlines and its insurers.

也是在上周，馬來西亞民航局正式宣布370航班失事，因此遇難者家屬可以開始向馬來西亞航空公司及其保險公司索賠。

TransAsia Airways, a Taipei-based carrier that serves destinations in Asia and Southeast Asia, has improved its safety record over the years and had plans to expand its reach under its owner Goldsun Development & Construction Company, but it will likely be under heavy scrutiny with two deadly crashes in fewer than seven months.

臺北的復興航空公司提供飛往亞洲和東南亞的航班，近些年其安全紀錄有所提高，它原本計劃在所有者，國產(chǎn)實業(yè)建設公司的領導下進一步擴張，但是在不到七個月的時間里發(fā)生兩起致命空難，它很可能會遭到嚴格調(diào)查。

Forty-eight died aboard TransAsia Flight 222 on July 23 when the plane tried to make an emergency landing in Taiwan’s Penghu Islands during storms brought on by Typhoon Matmo. According to the Aviation Safety Network, it was the carrier’s first deadly crash since Dec. 21, 2002, when two lost their lives on a cargo flight to Macau.

去年7月23日，復興航空公司的222航班試圖在臺灣澎湖島緊急降落時失事，機上48人遇難，當時正值臺風“麥德姆”在該地區(qū)造成暴風雨。據(jù)航空安全網(wǎng)稱，那是該航空公司自2002年12月21日以來的首次致命事故。2002年，一架貨機在飛往澳門途中失事，兩人喪生。

“What I can say is that TransAsia has passed an international safety audit,” Harro Ranter, founder and director of the Aviation Safety Network, wrote in an email. “Airlines need to pass this audit to be able to become a member of IATA [International Air Transport Association], the industry organization for airlines.”

“我能說的是，復興航空公司已通過國際安全審查，”航空安全網(wǎng)的創(chuàng)立者、主管哈羅·朗泰爾(Harro Ranter)在電子郵件中說，“航空公司必須通過這項審查才能成為國際航空運輸協(xié)會會員，該協(xié)會是航空公司的行業(yè)組織。”

But with the number of crashes in the region in the past year, should prospective passengers be concerned about overall airline safety in the region?

但是鑒于該地區(qū)過去一年中發(fā)生的空難次數(shù)，未來的乘客們需要擔憂該地區(qū)的總體飛行安全嗎?

“Given the fact that last year was the safest year even by the number of fatal passenger flight accidents, there is no reason to be afraid,” Mr. Ranter said. “The level of aviation safety is at its best, both in absolute and in relative (compared to number of flights) terms.”

“甚至從致命民航飛行事故次數(shù)角度講，去年也是最安全的一年，所以沒必要擔心，”朗泰爾說，“不管從絕對值還是相對值(與航班數(shù)相比)上看，飛行安全水平正值其最佳時期。”

Flight 370 was Malaysia Airlines’ first fatal crash since Sept. 15, 1995, and AirAsia never had a deadly crash before Flight 8501 went down. However, the Indonesian Transportation Ministry has suspended officials and is conducting a wider investigation after it was found that Flight 8501 was allowed to take off from Surabaya on Dec. 28 without having the necessary clearances.

370航班是馬來西亞航空公司自1995年9月15日以來的首次致命事故。在8501航班失事前，亞航從未發(fā)生過一起致命空難。不過，印度尼西亞交通部已暫停相關官員的職務，在發(fā)現(xiàn)去年12月28日8501航班在沒有獲得必要許可的情況下被允許從泗水起飛后，更廣泛的調(diào)查已在進行中。

Concern about the safety of Indonesia aviation is not new; the Federal Aviation Administration has rated the country a Category 2, which means it “does not comply with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)” — since 2007. To upgrade to Category 1, an F.A.A. spokesman wrote in an email, “in general, the Indonesia CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] must bring their aviation system into compliance with ICAO standards in areas such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record keeping or inspection procedures.”

關于印尼航空安全的憂慮由來已久。自2007年起，聯(lián)邦航空管理局將該國的航空安全等級列入二類，意思是它“不符合國際民用航空組織設定的國際安全標準”。聯(lián)邦航空管理局的一位發(fā)言人在郵件中寫道，要想升入一類，“總的來說，印度尼西亞民航局必須使其航空系統(tǒng)在專業(yè)技術、專門人才、記錄保持和檢查程序等方面達到國際民用航空組織的標準”。

Training is one of the many issues airlines in the region need to improve upon, according to Desmond Ross, aviation adviser and principal at Desmond Ross & Associates International, an aviation security and safety company.

航空安全公司德斯蒙德·羅斯聯(lián)合公司(Desmond Ross & Associates International)的航空顧問、主管德斯蒙德·羅斯說，培訓是該地區(qū)航空公司需要改進的很多問題之一。

“You have some of these airlines in the region who are ordering aircraft by the dozens. You need to have the people to operate those aircraft,” he said from Australia. “If you stop and think about it, the aircraft is supposed to operate 24 hours a day, so you probably need three crews per plane. About 35 people on average for every single aircraft in an airline. So where are these people being trained? There’s not enough training going on. There is a pilot shortage. There’s an engineering shortage.

“該地區(qū)的這些航空公司往往是一下子訂購幾十架飛機?？偟糜腥藖砉芸剡@些飛機，”他在澳大利亞說，“你停下來想一想就會發(fā)現(xiàn)，飛機往往是一天24小時運營，所以每架飛機很可能需要三組工作人員，平均共需要約35個人。那么這些人是在哪兒培訓的呢?正在進行的培訓是不夠的。這些航空公司缺乏飛行員和工程師。”

“It’s the budget carrier model,” Mr. Ross added. “Personally I don’t fly on low-cost carriers and I don’t plan on doing so. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on below the surface that people don’t see. And not all airlines have the slots filled. It’s not like introducing a new taxi to a taxi company. It requires a lot of certification, which comes from the regulators doing their job. There is a problem with rapid growth and not keeping up with the demands of the industry.”

“這就是廉價航空公司的模式，”羅斯補充說，“我個人從未乘坐過廉價航空公司的航班，也不打算乘坐。有很多東西藏在表面現(xiàn)象之下，人們看不到。不是所有航空公司都填補了這些空白。這不像出租車公司新加一輛出租車。它需要很多認證，這些認證需要監(jiān)管部門認真核查。這些航空公司在快速發(fā)展的同時未能滿足行業(yè)要求。”

The Philippines returned to Category 1 status last April after being downgraded to a Category 2 for more than six years.

去年4月，菲律賓的航空安全等級在被降至二類六年多之后重返一類。

Philippine Airlines, along with other airlines in the Asia Pacific region known as ASPAC, “has invested billions of dollars in modern aircraft acquisitions, the latest innovations in flight deck automation and technology, safety enhancement and warning systems, as well as the very latest methodologies in flight crew training and evaluation programs,” the Philippine Airlines president and chief operating officer Jaime J. Bautista wrote in an email.

菲律賓航空公司總裁、首席運營官杰米·J·鮑蒂斯塔(Jaime J. Bautista)在郵件中寫道，菲律賓航空公司以及亞太地區(qū)的其他航空公司“已投入數(shù)十億美元購買先進飛機，革新駕駛艙自動化技術，改善安全和報警系統(tǒng)，引入最新的機組人員培訓和評估程序”。

“As a result, and despite the coincidental geographic associations which have been drawn, passengers on Philippine Airlines enjoy an equivalent level of safety as their North America and European counterparts,” he added. “In fact, according to the 2013 IATA Safety Report, the number of commercial air accidents occurring in ASPAC (17) was actually lower than the number of accidents occurring in North America (18) and Europe (22) over the same period of time.”

“所以，盡管人們已經(jīng)把這些偶然事件聯(lián)系起來，認為是這一地區(qū)的整體問題，但是實際上菲律賓航空公司的乘客們享受的安全水平與北美、歐洲的乘客是一樣的，”他補充說，“實際上，據(jù)國際航空運輸協(xié)會2013年的報告，發(fā)生在亞太地區(qū)的商業(yè)飛行事故(17起)實際上低于同期發(fā)生在北美(18起)和歐洲(22起)的事故。”

The accident rate (2.89) in ASPAC was actually higher than North America (1.52) and Europe (2.76) during that time period based on the International Air Transport Association’s data, but the numbers do show that airline travel is generally safe.

根據(jù)國際航空運輸協(xié)會的數(shù)據(jù)，亞太地區(qū)的航空事故率(2.89)實際上高于同時期北美(1.52)和歐洲(2.76)的事故率，但是這些數(shù)據(jù)的確表明，乘飛機旅行總體來說是安全的。

According to the Geneva-based Aircraft Crashes Record Office, there were 120 airplane crashes around the world in 2014 — the fewest since 1927.

據(jù)日內(nèi)瓦的空難檔案館稱，2014年全球共發(fā)生120起空難，是1927年以來最少的。

“Even in the worst year, air travel is safe,” Darryl Jenkins, chairman of the American Aviation Institute, wrote in an email.

“即使在最糟糕的年份里，航空飛行也是安全的，”美國航空研究所所長達里爾·詹金斯(Darryl Jenkins)在郵件中寫道。

Still, Mr. Jenkins said that he realizes that safer skies — there were an average of 168.8 crashes worldwide between 2004 and 2013 according to ACRO — aren’t enough to ease all of travelers’ concerns, especially when a plane going down can become the focus of 24-hour news channels’ programming.

不過，詹金斯說，他知道，乘飛機更安全的事實(根據(jù)空難檔案館的統(tǒng)計，2004年至2013年全球平均每年發(fā)生168.8起空難)不足以撫慰所有旅行者的焦慮，特別是飛機失事會成為24小時新聞頻道節(jié)目的焦點。

“In the case of Malaysia Airlines [Flight 370], confidence was shaken,” he said. “I can only think of two other times a crash was this bad for an airline: ValuJet [Flight 592 on May 11, 1996, which killed 110] and US Airways [USAir Flight 427 on Sept. 8, 1994, which killed 132].”

“馬航[370航班]事件動搖了人們的信心，”他說，“我只能想到另外兩起對航空公司造成如此惡劣影響的事故：1996年5月11日瓦盧杰航空公司的592航班失事，110人遇難;1994年9月8日全美航空公司的427航班失事，132人遇難。”

The incoming Malaysia Airlines chief executive Christoph Mueller declined to comment on the carrier’s plans because, he said, he will not officially join the airline until March.

即將上任的馬來西亞航空公司首席執(zhí)行官克里斯托弗·米勒(Christoph Mueller)拒絕對該航空公司的計劃作出評論，因為他說他到3月份才正式加入該航空公司。

Mr. Jenkins said he was uncertain about whether Malaysia Airlines could recover from the two crashes in 2014, but he did say he thought “AirAsia can.”

詹金斯說，他不確定馬來西亞航空公司能否從2014年的兩次事故中恢復過來，但是他說他覺得“亞航可以”。

If that happens, the AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes deserves much of the credit, said Tom Linton, a sales and marketing executive at Trails of Indochina, a destination management and luxury travel company based in Vietnam.

越南目的地管理和奢侈旅游公司印度支那之路(Trails of Indochina)的銷售和市場主管湯姆·林頓(Tom Linton)說，如果亞航的確恢復過來了，那么應該主要歸功于其首席執(zhí)行官托尼·費爾南德斯(Tony Fernandes)。

Since retweeting the @AirAsia announcement that Flight 8501 had gone missing — “AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact at 07:24hrs this morning on.fb.me/1xpx5pl” — Mr. Fernandes has maintained an active presence on social media and in front of the cameras, providing updates and words of encouragement for the passengers’ families, friends and loved ones.

費爾南德斯在Twitter上轉發(fā)了亞航宣布8501航班失蹤的聲明(“印度尼西亞亞洲航空公司遺憾地確認，從泗水飛往新加坡的QZ8501航班今天早上7點24分失去聯(lián)系”)，之后，他一直活躍在社交媒體上和鏡頭前，提供最新消息，鼓勵乘客家屬、朋友和愛人。

“I think he’s been great,” Mr. Linton said. “The fact that he came on right away and he was so responsible and responsive by having an emergency update hotline set up and going on Twitter with updates — that’s what people want. Malaysia Airlines was a total mess” in its response to Flight 370, he said.

林頓說，“我覺得他很棒”，“他馬上現(xiàn)身，非常負責，作出回應，設立緊急事件最新消息熱線，在Twitter上不斷發(fā)布最新消息——這些都是人們想要的”，而“馬來西亞航空公司”在應對370航班事故時表現(xiàn)得“一團糟”。