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Traditionally regarded as one of the safest planes in the skies, the Boeing 777’s reputation will have been damaged by the second fatal crash in less than a year. There are around 1,000 Boeing 777s in service, and the plane is a long haul workhorse, plying some of the longest routes. It entered service in 1995 and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is responsible for monitoring US-made aircraft, has logged fewer than 60 incidents. But the recent record has been more patchy with two major incidents - a crash at San Francisco airport last July, which claimed three lives, and the crash-landing of a British Airways 777 at Heathrow in January 2008. But the Malaysian disaster is very different from both the BA incident and the crash involving a Asiana Airlines flight at San Francisco International Airport in July. Both the BA and Asiana accidents occurred shortly before landing, while the Malaysia airlines plane disappeared off the radar during the early stages of the trip. The accident at San Francisco in July was attributed to pilot error which led to the engines being set to idle because he believed the computer would maintain sufficient speed to keep the plane up in the air. But initial reports suggest that Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the 53-year-old Malaysian airlines pilot, was hugely experienced - having joined the carrier in 1981 and with 18,365 hours in the cockpit under his belt. | 
