It Really Is a Small World

Feb. 2, 2010
Like many of you, I was interested with the few details available when the Ethiopian Airline aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean on January 25. Other than the fact that all 90 on board were presumed dead, very little information followed, so I didn’t think about it much more. The accident was, after all, thousands of miles away. Then, on the following Saturday, we got a telephone call from son Brett, our youngest, and all of a sudden the accident became quite interesting. Brett is a side-scan sonar operator/technician on a recovery vessel and he calls from places like England, Gibraltar, and Nova Scotia. All of his calls are important to us, but this one was even more so. “By the way,” he asked, “do you know about the Ethiopian aircraft that crashed into the Mediterranean? We’re looking for it.” Well, I’ll be danged. Brett was calling from Beirut, Lebanon. The airplane crashed just off the Lebanese coast, and it seems the Lebanese government contacted the company Brett works for soon after the crash. Their ship is now actively searching for the aircraft with the side-scan sonar that Brett (and others) operates. All of a sudden this accident from thousands of miles away became much closer to home—kind of in the family, so to speak. Oh, I do hope they find it. I would fill you in on all the details, but I don’t know the details and may never know them—but if I do, you can read about it in a later Blog. We’d love to post your comments. Please click the comment tab at the top.