Aviation safety gaps need to be plugged

[SINGAPORE] THE aviation community - as was the world at large - was caught entirely offguard when a fully laden commercial flight was shot down last week over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.

In the hours that followed the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, it emerged that at least two other commercial carriers had flown through the same area just minutes apart. This was the same airspace where, days earlier, a Ukrainian transport plane had reportedly been shot down. Reports also cited several other similar incidents in the weeks leading up to the horrendous events of last week.

Now with "20/20 hindsight vision", the question naturally arises as to what airlines were doing flying over the area when multiple aircraft have been shot down since last month, allegedly by pro-Russia separatists?