Life in an airport town

It was great to see the many folks in Gander take time out of there busy schedules to make time to remember the 17 lost souls and survivor Robert Decker of Cougar Helicopter Flight 491 that crashed into the frigid North Atlantic on March 12.
An Ecumenical service of remembrance and prayer was held at the Fraser Road United Church on March 24, for those involved in the crash, the families, the rescue workers and those who work offshore. As one minister said, we are an airport town and we can appreciate the suffering at times like these.
It was a very special service, and of particular interest were the young people involved in the ceremony. Evan Foote gave a couple of beautiful instrumentals, including one he wrote, as well as the beautiful voice of Nancy Hillier as she sang, and Mackenzie Blake's wonderful reading from the scripture Isaiah.
For an airport town, which has witnessed first hand the tragedies of air travel, we have a certain sense of understanding and compassion. In 1946, near Gander Lake, the Belgian Sabena airliner crashed in 1946, with 27 fatalities and 17 survivors, and most recently, 256 lost lives in the Arrow Air crash on Dec. 12, 1985.
But, we're also a seafaring province with the fishery, seal hunt, and, of course offshore oil industry. With each one of these industries, there has been a fair share of tragedies and stories of survival.
It is, at times like these, that we have a sense of remembering those days when we either witnessed the event, or read about in our history books and novels.
It's difficult for those directly involved to forget these tragedies, but for those of us far removed, we need to remember so efforts can be put forward to avoid it from occurring again.
Recently, we have seen a number of commercial airliners crash, with the most recent a Continental Airlines commuter jet on approach to the Buffalo, New York airport.
Now, there is speculation that the Canadian Armed Forces may continue to use the Tutor Jets, most commonly used by the world famous Canadian Snowbirds flying show.
The supposed plan is to extend the life of these jets to 2020, well past their expected grounding of 2010. Some have suggested that proper maintenance and changes can make these aircraft reasonably safe with minimal risk.
However, there have been a number of incidents with these jets in the past few years, let alone what might happen if they are allowed to go beyond the expiration date.
Surely, the lives of the men and women are far more important than saving a few dollars. The risk of losing the Snowbirds because of the cost is a better tradeoff than losing one single life.
Governments in the past have neglected the military with cuts, and yet there has been little outcry from the public over these cutbacks. It is important to keep our military strong, with its traditions, but at what cost.
It's fair to say that no matter what companies do to prevent another air disaster, it's going to happen, but every effort should go into minimizing the risks.