Mr. Manno I have some questions,
In the haste to sustain the illusion that we can somehow achieve complete safety and security...
Do you really think the public's delusion of achieving riskless flight is so severe that there is a demand for sustaining it? Where in the news has advocating absolute safety been especially prominent?
...we are rushing to speculate about how the Germanwings disaster could have been prevented, and two trends are undermining even the most well-intentioned efforts...
Of course there isn't much virtue in speculation but what are these well-intentioned efforts that are being undermined?
...First, there's the media frenzy. The competition for news market share devolves into a contest to present the largest, most compelling volume of "news," even if there's none to present.
While the news media's competition for attention is often abject what was so particularly unworthy about its coverage of the Germanwings crash? And what is it undermining again?
The media focus becomes less about the big news picture and more about this specific and tragic horror. Inevitably lost is the human dignity of those lost in the crash, and going forward, the dignity of everyone left behind to fly again.
What is this big news picture? How exactly is the dignity of the victims and everyone else lost? How should it be maintained?
And social media is adding an accelerant to the news media bonfire. A passenger boarding my jet this week said to me — with a smirk — "I have to ask: Are you having a good day? Are you enjoying being alive?"
If this passenger did indeed go on to tweet about this as you speculate how exactly does her irreverence accelerate a news media bonfire and again how is this undermining those well-intentioned efforts and what are they? You mention someone else tweeting about their flight apprehension. How is that relevant beyond the self-centeredness of the person?
Which brings on the second unfortunate trend. As this tsunami of public alarm rises, the demand for instant solutions and immediate resolution overcomes common sense — and even reality.
You mention automation as a proposed solution. Why not use the opportunity to explain the staggering FAA certification costs of even trivial airliner retrofits and how this is unlikely?
You mention increased scrutiny of crew mental health as being undesirable and why and that made good sense.