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This is the second such instance in the past month. - For a longer discussion on the topic see this thread on airliners.net http://www.airliners.net/forum/view

This is the second such instance in the past month. - For a longer discussion on the topic see this thread on airliners.net http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1373093 http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1373093 - On August 24 Typhoon Hato hit HongKong hard. All airlines canceled their service in and out of HKIA, except a lone KLM flight from Amsterdam. Similar to the delta flight into San Juan, this flight created a large media storm into the risk involved. http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/08/24/klm-747-typhoon-hato/ http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/08/24/klm-747-ty... While I am not a pilot, I know that such flights involve sophisticated planning (route, fuel, approach), weather prediction as well as diversionary plans if things do not work out. No airline would undertake such a high-risk move without the confidence that they are not putting lives at risk.

Udik 9y ago
Consider that they were carrying 170 people away from a hurricane that killed, among the millions of people that were on its path, a total (until now) of 11. If that single plane crashed, it would have multiplied by 15 the total death toll of the storm. I'm sure that the risk must have been quite low for the operation to make any sense.
- peteretep 9y ago
  Generally, after a disaster, the death toll is artificially limited to bodies reporters can actually count, before rocketing up as infrastructure comes back online
  - mysterypie 9y ago
    That's not what happened during the 9/11 attacks. The death toll was reported as more than 6000. Weeks later it was suddenly adjusted downward to 3000ish and finally settled at 2997. The extreme overestimate was ostensibly due to "double counting", which I find to be a wholly unsatisfactory explanation. With all the info that they collected about each person who was missing -- name, DOB, photos, ID numbers, where they worked in the building or who they were visiting -- how can they possibly double count 3000 people? And you're saying that generally after a disaster it works exactly the opposite way: a low number initially which gets adjusted upwards. Interesting. Almost as if there was a desire to make 9/11 look even worse (as horrible as it was).

Udik 9y ago

Consider that they were carrying 170 people away from a hurricane that killed, among the millions of people that were on its path, a total (until now) of 11. If that single plane crashed, it would have multiplied by 15 the total death toll of the storm. I'm sure that the risk must have been quite low for the operation to make any sense.

peteretep 9y ago
Generally, after a disaster, the death toll is artificially limited to bodies reporters can actually count, before rocketing up as infrastructure comes back online
- mysterypie 9y ago
  That's not what happened during the 9/11 attacks. The death toll was reported as more than 6000. Weeks later it was suddenly adjusted downward to 3000ish and finally settled at 2997. The extreme overestimate was ostensibly due to "double counting", which I find to be a wholly unsatisfactory explanation. With all the info that they collected about each person who was missing -- name, DOB, photos, ID numbers, where they worked in the building or who they were visiting -- how can they possibly double count 3000 people? And you're saying that generally after a disaster it works exactly the opposite way: a low number initially which gets adjusted upwards. Interesting. Almost as if there was a desire to make 9/11 look even worse (as horrible as it was).