Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

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Gregory Polek

The Dutch Safety Board has assigned culpability for a failure to recognize the risks to <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2014-09-09/dutch-investigation-says-high-energy-objects-hit-mh17">Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17</a> while it flew over a conflict zone in Eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, to “several aviation parties involved” including the International Civil Aviation Organization and member states. In a report issued Tuesday, the Dutch authorities also cited Ukraine for its failure to issue any specific warnings of risks to civil aviation during the period in which the conflict expanded into its airspace. “ICAO did not see any reason for questioning Ukraine or offering assistance,” it added.

 


The report concluded that a 9N314M warhead detonated outside and above the left side of the cockpit of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200, causing structural damage to the forward part of the airplane and leading to in-flight disintegration, immediately killing the three people in the cockpit. All 298 of the airplane’s occupants lost their lives as the airplane broke apart, leaving wreckage over a 50-square-kilometer area between the Ukrainian village of Petropavlivka and the town of Hrabove. The report identified the type of missile used as a 9M38-series, as installed on a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile system.

 


The report concluded that Ukrainian authorities should have closed the airspace over eastern Ukraine as a precaution after they learned of the downing of two military airplanes in the area on July 14 and 16. Statements made by the authorities indicated that they suspected the use of weapons systems capable of reaching the cruising altitude of civil airplanes, it added.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

 


The safety board noted that not only Malaysia Airlines, but almost all other airlines that used the route over the conflict zone continued to do so as the armed conflict expanded into the airspace. On the day of the crash alone, 160 flights operated over the area of eastern Ukraine until authorities finally closed the airspace.

 


The Chicago Convention provides states the option of imposing flight prohibitions on airlines and issuing recommendations related to the use of foreign airspace. Although MH17 took off from Dutch soil, the Netherlands did not bear any formal responsibility for the flight because it involved a non-Dutch airline, however. Meanwhile, the fact that the flight operated under a code-share with KLM did not provide any legal authority either.

 


During the period in which the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine expanded into its airspace, from April 2014 to the time of the crash, not a single state or international authority explicitly warned of any risks to civil aviation, said the report.

 


In response to its findings, the board recommended that ICAO incorporate in “standards” that states experiencing an armed conflict “at an early stage” publish information as specific as possible regarding the nature and extent of the threats. It also recommended that ICAO ask states for more information if published aeronautical or other publications give cause to do so and offer assistance and consider issuing a State Letter if, in its opinion, the state in question does not fulfill its responsibility for the safety of its airspace. Further recommendations call for ICAO to convert so-called recommended practices into standards under which states can take “unambiguous” measures to ensure the safety of its airspace.

 


The board also recommended that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) ensure that its Operational Safety Audits (IOSA) reflect standards regarding risk assessment.

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