Incidents like the recent United Airlines scandal have brought widespread attention to the challenges of aviation services and safety, but what goes on behind the scenes in the industry is little-known to the public. On April 27 and 28, the first Civil Aviation Administration of China and European Aviation Safety Agency conference will be held in Shanghai, China.
Yang Yuguang, Professor of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, told CGTN's Dialogue with Yang Rui that aviation safety is still a very big challenge for every country, although it has been developed for several years since the end of World War II.
"The airplane itself has become more and more complex, so the communication and technical details will influence the safety. For the airlines outside China, they allow passengers to use flight mode on their mobile phones. But in China, it is forbidden by all airlines. This is one detail, or example, showing how radio wave influence can disturb the communication of air control and pilots."
Despite the civil aviation, the recent proliferation of drones has lead to heated arguments about how to deal with them – either as aircraft or some other category. Drones are prohibited from entering no-fly zones, or else operators may face legal consequences.
Harvey Dzodin, correspondent at China Daily, illustrated the situation of drones in other countries as examples, and said abusing drones has been worrisome.
"Of course you can take simple ones off the shelf that some people use as a toy. However, ISIS has put some explosive things on it and started killing people. This will be a public security nightmare while also causing terrorism threats. In America every drone user must be registered, including their license number and aviation number. But this is not going to prevent people unless they have some records from before, from being stopped. I think it's an accident waiting to happen. You have to do the risk and benefit analysis."
