A line of noodle vendors stretched for miles to fuel the gawking and the greedy. Newspapers and magazines at the time showed the brazen trading in the possessions of the dead on tables at the site. More than two dozen victims were unidentified and buried in a cemetery 90 kms from the main crash area. Few cared about the integrity of the crash site for investigative purposes or the fact it was a graveyard.

Locals and foundation rescue staff scoured the site for jewelry, passports, electronics, luggage - anything they could sell to make a quick buck. The wholesale looting of the crash site over many square kilometers of semi-wilderness led to much national soul searching. Lauda’s work led to Boeing modifying the thrust reverser system that contributed to the accident.īut in Thailand it is remembered for a different reason. In aviation circles the accident and its investigation became famous for the actions of airline owner Niki Lauda, the former world champion racing car driver who started the Austrian company. A total of 223 passengers and crew died after a Boeing 767 broke up in flight over what is now the Phu Toei National Park in Suphanburi, Thailand. It was 30 years since the May 26th, 1991, crash of Lauda Air 004. Rooster was reminded of all these irrational angsts this week - and much more - when Manager prompted my Thaivisa editor about a grim anniversary on Wednesday. Give me my Honda 250 over a jumbo any day. Yes, I don’t really appreciate the wisdom that says you’re more likely to die on the way to the airport than on a plane.

Since 2018 the furthest I’ve been is Khon Kaen. Next flight was one way to Kabul on Ariana Afghan Airlines. I didn’t back the winner but got back to South London safely despite being terrified. I took my first flight aged 19 in October 1980 from Heathrow to Paris for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

More like having not the slightest concept of how thrust works outside the bedroom and being helpless in an aluminium tube. It’s not the thought of being in “coach” that freaks me. When it comes to buckling up my seatbelt and preparing for take-off I’m a bundle of nerves, convinced that the grim reaper will be carting me off well before I get my first tray of airline slop. I miss travel but Boy!, I don’t miss flying. It’s nearly three years since I got on a plane.

Skam nas hate me now scene