Academic Conference on Educational & Social Innovations

THE CULTURE OF RELEASING FLOATING LANTERN TOWARDS AVIATION SAFETY AWARENESS IN BANGKOK, THAILAND

Kanittha Charernnit

International College, Suan Sunandha Rajbhat University, Bangkok, Thailand E-mail: [email protected]

This research paper aims to investigate the aviation safety awareness of people regarding the culture of releasing floating lantern in Bangkok, Thailand. The objectives of this research were 1) to study the culture of releasing floating lantern in Thailand, 2) to study the awareness of people towards aviation safety from releasing floating lantern 3) to study the law and regulation of releasing floating lantern in Bangkok, Thailand. The research study was based on qualitative research with a depth interview toward the attitudes and perception of people regarding the culture of releasing floating lantern and the awareness of people towards the aviation safety from releasing floating lantern in Bangkok, Thailand. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The research findings were indicated as follows: In the past, Thailand policy for releasing floating lantern has not been considered as strictly as it should be. People and official authority have less concern about the problems related to floating lanterns releasing. Until the National Council for Peace and Order No. 27/2559 has introduced the preventive measures for releasing floating lantern and similar objects such as sky rockets, fireworks and any similar objects into the sky. Since, then the awareness of people for releasing the floating lantern has been increasing as the law and regulations has been announced and enforced continuously.

Keywords: Culture, Floating Lantern, Aviation, Safety.

Introduction

Research Background The airline industry is one of the most profitable industries of Thailand which is competing with both domestic and international airlines including airlines from many ASEAN countries. The airline industry has become an important industry for Thailand as it brings international tourists inbound, it generates more revenue for the country and it creates many job opportunities etc. In the last two or three decades, Thailand has had an edge over other ASEAN countries in attracting international and domestic passengers in terms of low price and friendly service but Thailand has never used safety as key marketing (Wongleedee, 2014). Thailand charms thousands of travellers into returning for its way of life, people life style, its idyllic market, top restaurant, beaches, islands and its exquisite culture. Thailand has many festivals and many attractive cultures that attract international and domestic passengers to travel in and to Thailand. One of the most attractive and famous culture is the culture of releasing Sky lantern or Floating lantern which usually made from thin pieces of rice paper. The Thai‟s use the word Khom loi, meaning “floating lanterns”. They are extremely popular in certain festivals in Thailand, and the people consider it good luck to release a sky lantern since it symbolizes their problems and worries floating AC-ESI-2019+ @ PRAGUE.CZ

away [9]. The local people in the northern part of Thailand call it as the Yi Peng Lantern Festival which organized every year in many parts of the country. These festivals are celebrated on the twelfth lunar month according to the Thai calendar on the full moon day. Usually, this falls anywhere from mid-October to mid-November and lasts for a few days. The Yi Peng Lantern Festival was originally a culture of the Lan Na people who is living in the Northern part of Thailand and it is a special holiday celebrated by using lanterns for celebration. The stronghold of the Lan Na culture, houses and temples are decorated with colorful lanterns to mark the approach of the festivals and this appeared to celebrate in many parts of Thailand as well as in Bangkok which popular in weddings, many festivals and parties and it appeared to celebrate in many places especially along the river bank area as the reflection of the sky lanterns on the lake or river creates a magical atmosphere. Many hotels and accommodations as well as many famous tourist attractions in Bangkok also organized the floating lantern activity in order to attract the tourist from all around the world as well as local tourists. The culture of Sky lantern or Floating lantern releasing, people believe these lanterns is a symbol of letting go of misfortunes and receiving merit, an important concept in Buddhism. The Thai people believes that if you release your lantern which often adorned with written messages, prayers, and wishes correctly, it‟s believed that your wish will come true, if you do good deeds in the next year. Moreover, you have to watch your lantern until it disappears for the best luck. But if it burns out while in your full view it is considered a very bad luck. Floating Lantern Festival or Yi Peng organized simultaneously with another important Thai festival called “Loi Krathong” [7]. Large crowds and higher prices of hotels and accommodation was expected when booking hotels and other activities due to the massive influx in both domestic and international visitors. Sky lanterns have increasingly grown in popularity beyond Asia – they are now a fairly frequent sight in the West on special occasions such as at weddings, New Year‟s Eve and Halloween [9]. However, they can be dangerous. If a hot air gets cold while a flame is weak but still burning, sky lantern can land and cause a fire. If the wind is too strong, lantern can tilt and catch fire, fall on something flammable like woods or buildings. It can also present danger for flying airplanes. Some companies that produce sky lanterns changed materials from which they make lanterns into non-flammable variants to lessen the chance of lantern catching fire. Some countries have banned use of sky lanterns because of these dangers.[8] Moreover, from the study of The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) report [17], the report indicated that the floating lantern is danger to aircraft and aviation in many areas such as the Lantern could obstruct the pilot‟s windshield and obstruct the pilot‟s vision. It could obstruct the engine of the aircraft and the engine can be blasted. It could get stuck in the aircraft tails and wing which can lead to uncontrollable aircraft. Therefore, questions that came to the researcher‟s mind were, does the people in Bangkok aware and concerns about the impacts of sky lanterns, what exactly is safety knowledge provided by the government or service providers to the public, especially during the resealing of floating lantern period toward the aviation safety? Is there any public safety awareness of aviation safety while releasing floating lantern? The researcher is interesting in study those questions and hope that the results of this research could be useful in creating the safety awareness for people in releasing sky lantern or floating lantern towards safety of

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Academic Conference on Educational & Social Innovations aviation as well as recommending guidelines for future regulation, including planning for public relations. Furthermore, improving the teaching and learning on aviation safety educational in the future.

Research Objectives

It is therefore a focus of this research study that aimed to: 1. to study the culture of releasing floating lantern in Thailand. 2. to study the awareness of people towards aviation safety from releasing floating lantern. 3. to study the law and regulation of releasing floating lantern in Bangkok, Thailand.

Research Methodology

In this research, the researcher conducted a research on the culture of releasing floating lantern towards aviation safety awareness in Bangkok, Thailand by divided the research process into 3 parts. The first part is to study the culture of releasing floating lantern in Thailand and the second part, is the awareness of people towards aviation safety from releasing floating lantern. The third part study the law and regulation of releasing floating lantern in Bangkok, Thailand. The researchers conducted the research using qualitative research by using descriptive statistics method and collected data by using an in-depth interview from various group.

Definitions

Latent Conditions: Conditions present in the system before the accident, made evident by triggering factors. These often relate to deficiencies in organizational processes and procedures. [6] Threat: An event or error that occurs outside the influence of the flight crew, but which requires flight crew attention and management to properly maintain safety margins.[6] Undesired Aircraft State (UAS): A flight crew-induced aircraft state that clearly reduces safety margins; a safety compromising situation that results from ineffective threat/ error management. An undesired aircraft state is recoverable. [6] Safety: risk status that will endanger a person or will minimize property or in the acceptable level by using specification process to specify danger and risk management from the danger status [6] Aviation: the activity of flying aircraft, or of designing, producing, and keeping them in good condition or the activity of transporting people and goods by aircraft or the business of designing and manufacturing aircraft [11]. Aviation Safety: means process of activity that prevent the loss of life and property from the people which related to aviation accident. [11] Floating Lantern: a small hot-air balloon which lighted and released in the sky. It is made from paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended. [7] Safety Awareness: Personal safety is about being aware of your surroundings, avoiding potentially dangerous situations, using common sense and trusting your instincts.[12]

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Literater Review

The 5-M Model comprises of Man, Machine, Medium, Mission and Management are five core areas that failing factors of accident/incident may appeared in. This model is one of the most common used method in aviation industry to examine aviation accident/incident. It provides manager with a systematic way of focusing and analyzing areas that errors mostly occurred within the structure of organization.[16] Man: When an aircraft accident occurs, many questions are asked regarding the human component that was operating the aircraft or system at the time of the accident. Successful accident investigation therefore requires the investigator to probe beyond the, „human failure‟, so as to be able to determine the underlying factors that contributed or lead to this failure. The question 'Why', arises a lot during investigation of the operator at the time of investigation. Machine: Due to technology, the machine (aviation technology) has enabled great advances to the aviation industry. Through automation, human mental work load has been reduced significantly and productivity increased [14]. However, when machine and computer become more complicated and advances to replace more jobs from human, it surfaces occasional problems which are detected with relation to human limitation in handling them. For example, the design, maintenance and manufacture of the aircraft. Therefore, modern aircraft designs are revise through these problems detected to further reduce the effect of any of these hazards. For instance, good design should not only seek to make system failure unlikely, but it should also ensure that, should it never the less occur, one single failure will not result in an accident [15].

5 M Factors Man Refers to human elements inclusive of Physiological, Psychological, Proficiency aspects as well as Qualifications of performing tasks Medium Refers to the environment where the task is to be conducted inclusive of Weather conditions, Terrain, Obstructions, Sunset/sunrise, Airfield lightnings, Navigators aids available Machine Refers to the Design, Manufacture, Maintenance of aircraft and Engineering reliability/ Performance of equipment Management Refers to supervisory capacity of management in terms of Regulations, Polices, Attitudes towards safety Mission Refers to the type of task implemented, whether it was Complex or Routine Figure 1 - 5-M Model Approach to Accident Investigation

Medium: The medium(environment) in which the aircraft operation takes place, equipment is used and personnel work directly affects safety [15]. From the point of view of accident prevention, the environment is considered to comprise of; The natural environment and the artificial environment. Mission: The type of mission or the purpose of the operation is also considered important during the investigation process. This is because each risk is associated with different types of operation which do vary. One example is the mission/procedure too ambitious that could not be possibly achieve? Each mission being different will have certain intrinsic hazards that are accepted with the type of mission [15]

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Management: The training of proper safety procedures is normally done by the management team of the certain airline or aviation organization. Therefore, accident prevention rests on management, as its only management in any organization that controls the allocation of resources [15]. For example, it is management that determines the type of aircraft to purchase, what routes to operate in, training and operational procedures to be given, personnel who will maintain as well as fly the aircraft and so forth. Management are thus the cornerstone for safety and accident prevention techniques.

Research Result

Thailand Government is aware of concerns about the impacts of sky lanterns on animals, crops and property and has taken steps to raise public awareness about the potential dangers of floating lanterns pose, and has enforced and encouraged people to think carefully before using them. According to the Order of Chief of National Council for Peace and Order No. 27/2559 has introduced the preventive measures for releasing floating lantern and similar objects such as sky rockets, fireworks and any similar objects into the sky are prohibited except permitted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Governor or District Chief - Officer into the area or province. Each province with consent of the Province Committee and Province Culture Council shall issue Province Notification to impose security measure and maintain peace and order. The Notification should cover: Timeframe for lighting up and releasing, Type, dimension and quantity of the sky Rocket, fireworks, floating lantern or other similar things Area for lighting up and releasing. Although the government has measures to enforce Serious law but in the past, the problem of not being able to enforce relevant laws. A lot of people still doesn‟t know about the law and regulations as well as the punishment of releasing floating lantern. They releasing lanterns in different areas, at different times, with the same type, size and color of lanterns. Until causing damage to anything, an investigation must identify the damage that has occurred Until causing damage to anything, the investigation must specify the damage that occurred such as fire to property, damage to aircraft, etc. An investigation must identify the damage that has occurred which causing damage such as fire to property, damage to aircraft, etc. It is difficult to identify the fault of anyone who caused the damage.

Research Conclusion

Safety is the highest priority of all involved in aviation. Aviation is the safest form of long-distance transport. Airline safety and business has been regulated by many important organizations and international Air Transport Association (IATA, 2012). So, it is imperative to include safety as one of the key marketing tools to embed in everyone in the aviation industry as a common goal of having every flight take-off and land safely. From the above it can be seen that although the government has measures to enforce law but in the past, the problem of not being able to enforce relevant laws or seriously punishing. When cannot enforce the law or punish seriously even though the warning was seriously by pointing out that when the sky lantern is sucked into the engine, it will cause Causing the engine to explode and resulting in a plane crash that destroys an aircraft during service or any action that causes damage to the plane so that it cannot be flown or causing

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danger, shall be punished with death, imprisonment and a high fine. Whatever many agencies can only ask for cooperation from the people. At present, the head of the National Council for Peace and Order 2727/2016 focused on the prohibition of spotting and releasing or acting in order to Sky lanterns, smoke, etc. into the air. The release of smoke lanterns into the air and is illegal without permission. All of the above, if there is no serious law enforcement in practice and society still has a negative attitude and discrimination Laws are not really effective, so there should be measures to enforce the law seriously and campaign to promote awareness of the law and the use of rights in various areas.

Research Recommendations

In this research, about the culture of releasing floating lantern towards aviation safety awareness, it seems that although festivals are incredibly beautiful and picturesque, it‟s important to take care in how you join the activities. The researcher recommended to promote the understanding to people to avoid using lanterns made with metal wires and paper. If participating in the festival, limit only one lantern per person and use biodegradable lanterns made from bamboo and rice paper. Refrain from using plastic, Styrofoam or likewise. If they use a lantern with metal wires, animals can get injured and ecosystems polluted by using various media channel as well as off line and on line application.

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University throughout this research. The research was successfully complete with the support of all teams. The author would like to thank the President of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luedech Girdwichai, and also to, Research and Development Institute, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand for financial support and also would like to thank Vice-President of the Institute of Research and Development, Associate Professor. Dr. Thanasuwit Thabhiranrak, and Asst. Prof. Dr. Suwaree Yordchim, Director of the Research and Development Institute. Finally, thanks to The Director of International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Assistant Professor Dr. Krongthong Khairiree as well as to all supporting staffs of International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University to provide support in many areas.

References:

[1] Kasikorn Bank Research Institution. (2004). Low Cost Carriers: The Challenge in High Cost of Fuel. Manager Online. [2] Wongleedee, K. (2014.) International Tourists‟ motivation to revisit Bangkok, Thailand. Proceeding from WASET Conference, Paris, 2014. International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. [3] International Air Transportation (IATA). (2012). Introduction to the airline industry course textbook. Montreal, Canada. [4] Chang, YK., & Yang, HH. (2011. Cabin Safety and Emergency Evacuation: Passenger Experience of Flight CL-120 Accident. Elsevier, May 43(3). [5] Manvichien C. (2015). Vitality of Safety Factors: A Case Study of Thai Airways Passengers. Proceeding from 7th World Conference on Educational Sciences, (WCES-2015), 05-07 February 2015, Novotel Athens Convention Center, Athens, Greece. International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University.

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[6] IATA Safety Report 2016 – Issued April 2017 [7] History of Loy Krathong. https://at-bangkok.com/history_of_loy-krathong.php. Data retrieved on June.2016 [8] History of Sky Lanterns - Who Invented Sky Lantern? http://www.historyoflamps.com/lantern- history/history-of-sky-lanterns/ Data retrieved on July 2017 [9] Meaning & History of Sky Lanterns (2014), https://kharmacreations.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/meaning- history-of-sky-lanterns/ Data retrieved on September 2016 [10] The Ministry of Transportation. (2016) Aviation Danger from the Lantern Release http://www.mot.go.th/link.html. Data retrieved on December 2016. [11] Aviation. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/aviation. Data retrieved on June 2016. [12] Safety Awarenes. https://web.iit.edu/public-safety/safety-awareness. Department of Public Safety. Chicago. Data retrieved on June 2016 [13] Rodrigues, C.C. and Wells, A.T. (2003) Commercial Aviation Safety. McGraw Hill. [14] Weiner, E.L., & Curry, R.E. (1980). Flight-deck automation: Promises and problems. Ergonomics, 23, 995-1011 [15] Lewis P, & Burrell C (2009). Aircraft Accident Investigation: Introduction to Aircraft Accident Investigation Procedures. www.docstoc.com. Data retrieved 30 September.2010 [16] Lewis P, & Burrell C (2009). 5-M Model Approach to Accident Investigation. http://aviationknowledge.wikidot.com/aviation:5-m-model. Data retrieved on October.2016 [17] The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), Floating Lantern needs Permission. https://www.caat.or.th/en/ Data retrieved January 2017.