Interesting Parallels
The disappearance two weeks ago of a Adam Air 737 near Indonesia bears some striking similarities, for anyone who remembers such things, to the disappearance more than twenty years ago of another passenger jet in the Pacific region - Korean Airlines flight 7 - better known as flight KAL 007.
Both disappeared without much apparent notice, with no distress calls or other communication in their “final moments”. Early reports on both indicated the (incorrect) discovery of the aircraft and survivors. The first wreckage of both was discovered weeks after their disappearances; decades later, the crash site, if any, of KAL 007 still hasn’t been found - or at least disclosed. No bodies were ever recovered after the Korean Airlines incident, and no bodies confirmed as being from the Adam Air jumbo jet have yet been found. In both instances, an endless series of official announcements and statements were made that later proved to be entirely incorrect.
Both of the above coincidences are quite remarkable. One of the most persuasive arguments against a crash into or disintegration above water in the KAL 007 incident is the comparison with other modern passenger jet losses over water, with their huge, easily-located debris fields, numerous floating bodies (or parts thereof), and readily-located “black box” voice and data recorders, which contain sonar transmitters for just that reason. When aircraft hit water, the argument goes, they always break up, and a lot onboard that floats does so, be it seat cushions, luggage, or the bodies of passengers and crew. They leak fuel and oil, which form easily-spotted slicks.
Yet no oil slick was ever found for KAL 007, and none has been found for the Adam Air jet. No substantial debris was ever recovered off the shore of Sakhalin. The only piece of debris found in Indonesia just happened to be immediately confirmable as part of the specific missing aircraft. There are reports of a single recovered body, out of a total of more than one-hundred souls on board, and I’m not the only one skeptical about the claim until positive confirmation arrives; some news media are reporting the body is “merely” that of a local woman, and neither a passenger nor crew member.
Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has declared the incident an “international issue”; I’m not suggesting the Russians shot down the Adam Air jet; you’re free to come to your own conclusions as far as what happened, as more (conflicting) information comes in. If the eerily similar events surrounding KAL flight 007 can provide any lessons, though, it’s to be very suspicious of any official statements that are forthcoming - especially ones that hinge upon quite large assumptions.
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