KEY POINTS:
By a grim and appalling coincidence, the Air New Zealand Airbus 320 crash on Friday occurred 29 years to the day after the Erebus catastrophe, the country's worst peacetime disaster. But the event did not need to have the added resonance of an anniversary to strike us all deeply.
It is some consolation that the aircraft was not carrying a full payload of passengers and cargo, which could have made this tragedy into a holocaust.
But it is nonetheless a calamity of significant proportion, for several reasons. First and foremost, we share to the extent that we can, the grief of those bereaved by the loss of the five New Zealanders on board, along with the two German crew from the airline that had been leasing the Airbus. For all who fly for a living, death is a constant companion, kept at a safe distance only by the extraordinary technical advances of aircraft design and the skill of the humans who fly the planes.
It is a sad reality of life that sometimes one or other or both can fail, as has happened here. But it is a safe bet that those who perished in the waters of the Mediterranean died doing what they loved.
Less personally tragic, but disastrous for all that, is the damage to the business and the reputation of the flag carrier, which had recently emerged from trying times, including a Government rescue plan. Air New Zealand deservedly holds a high reputation in the international community for the professionalism of its crew and the high standard of its operations. It seems, on the face of it, extremely improbable that the airline or anyone associated with it can be seen as even remotely responsible.
The company will - and should - bounce back from this. It is a reminder, if one were needed, that we may never entirely slip the surly bonds of Earth. But, whatever the odds, Kiwis can fly.
