Btn: Episode 15 Transcripts 09/06/09
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BtN: Episode 15 Transcripts 09/06/09 On this week's Behind the News: Solving the mystery of a missing airliner Becoming pop stars to recover from the bushfires And learning to love a very cool cat. Hi I'm Nathan Bazley welcome to Behind the News. Also on the show today, how would you feel about your parents monitoring everything you do on your phone? It could soon be a reality. We'll get to those items later, but first to our top story. Plane Disaster Reporter: Sarah Larsen INTRO: Planes are a pretty safe way to travel. Millions of dollars are spent to keep passengers safe. But every so often something goes wrong and last week a flight carrying more than 200 people disappeared over the middle of the ocean. Some wreckage has been found and some bodies, but it doesn't look like there were any survivors. So what happened? Sarah has a look at the mystery of flight 447. SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: Every day more than 3 million people around the world catch a commercial plane flight. It can be for business, holidays, or to meet friends or family. Planes keep people connected so when something goes wrong everyone gets worried and that's what happened last week. Air France Flight 447 left Rio De Janeiro in Brazil on its way to Paris in France but it the middle of the night it disappeared. As ships and planes began searching, friends and family were told to expect the worst. The plane had probably crashed into the ocean, leaving no survivors. Now they want answers. Piecing together a plane crash is a detective job as big as any you'd see on TV. Specialist investigators go to the crash site as soon as they can. What looks like wreckage to us is important evidence to a trained eye; a scratch here, a burn mark there, maybe traces of explosives. Every piece of the plane is collected and put back together like a jigsaw puzzle. But perhaps the best piece of evidence is this; the black box flight recorder. There are two of these in most large planes; one recording flight data and the other recording the pilots' voices. Together they tell a detailed story of the plane's last moments. REPORTER: Probably the first thing you'll notice is it's not black it's orange, which makes it easier to find after a crash. But the most important thing is how it's built. These babies are super strong. They can survive impacts more than 3000 times their own weight, they can survive in a fire for about an hour and they're water proof. They're even designed to be found in water with something called a pinger beacon. It emits a pulse of sound once it hits the water that can be picked up by receivers if they get close enough. Ships and mini submarines have made their way to the crash zone looking for signs of flight 447's black box but getting it back could be tricky. The ocean in the area is more than 3 Ks deep and currents are strong. Unless more wreckage is found, solving this case could be difficult. There are other clues to look at, like the weather. The plane was flying over the equator where winds from the northeast and southeast meet, creating big storms. It's thought the plane passed through one of these. It's possible lighting could have damaged the plane or its electrical equipment although some experts say that's unlikely. Planes are regularly hit by lightning but it doesn't normally cause damage. They're specially built so the lightning bolt travels across the plane without damaging anything inside. Planes are built to survive bad weather. Some are now suggesting a device that measures its speed wasn't working on flight 447. That could have been disastrous because to fly, you need to go fast. We may never know for sure what brought down flight 447 but investigators will keep analysing evidence and looking for new clues in the hope they can stop something like this from ever happening again. Presenter: And we'll let you know as soon as investigators find out more. The Wire Now here's Catherine with an update on swine flu. ******** Swine flu is continuing to spread across the country, with over 1000 cases now reported. Victoria is by far the worst hit, recording more than 870 cases, which is the highest rate for the size of its population in the world. Many schools have been shut down and lots of kids are in quarantine. The swine flu has also hit the NRL. Queensland Origin forward Ben Hannant has come down with the illness, after playing in the opening game in Melbourne. He has been quarantined from the rest of his Bulldogs teammates, but shouldn't be contagious by the next game on Friday. And it's not just elite sport being affected; kids sport is also being shut down to try to stop the spread. At least four teams pulled out of a junior basketball comp in Melbourne on the weekend, and many local comps have been suspended. PRESENTER: And if your school has shut down let us know what it's like by leaving a comment on our website. Overseas Students Reporter: Nathan Bazley INTRO: Education was also part of another big story last week. It's a really important part of our lives, and to make sure they get the best education, some kids travel a fair way to go to a good school. But what about travelling to another country? That's what hundreds of thousands of kids from overseas do every year leaving their families to come to Australia for study. It's actually one of our biggest industries, but a few violent attacks have put it in jeopardy. NATHAN BAZLEY REPORTER: Australia is marketed around the world as a spectacular tourist destination. It's not just tourists coming here though. More than 400,000 students choose to come here each year to study. But there are about three thousand of them that aren't happy here right now. This protest by Indian students happened in the middle of Melbourne last week and lasted all night. DEMONSTRATOR: We like Australia, but Australians don't like us. That's what it comes down to. Over the last few months, these protestors say lots of Indian students have been attacked; in the streets, on trains and in their homes. The latest was a 25 year old uni student who was stabbed during a party. REPORTER: This is how it was reported in India. INDIAN REPORTER: It seems that there has been another racist attack, or at least a hate crime perpetrated against another Indian. And this is how the victim's friend feels about Australia now. JAYASANKER BAGIEPALLI, FRIEND: Many people, many Indians are being attacked. That's what happens here. So if this country, you know, people from India really stop coming here. REPORTER: Do you want to go home? JAYASANKER: Yes, I am going. I'm going on 17th of this month. My parents doesn't (sic) want me to stay here. They're really concerned about me. And that is the last thing most people in Australia want. Because if more people decide not to come here to study, it could cost our economy millions. Why? Well you might not realise it, but education is BIG business! This is our biggest export industry, coal. And this is our second, iron ore. But what is our third biggest? You guessed it, it's education! Money made from education, like students enrolling here from all over the world, adds about 15.5 billion dollars to our economy. That's huge! NATHAN BAZLEY: Students come here for lots of different reasons. For some it's a lifestyle thing, for others it's to learn English. But for most it's the advantages they can get by studying in our high quality unis and schools. The most international study-bugs come from China, second is India, then Korea. So reports in India saying that students aren't safe here is a bad thing for the economy and Australia's reputation. Unfortunately, some students in India are already thinking twice about travelling here. INDIAN STUDENT: No, I don't think I'll go to Australia after this. I would prefer going to New Zealand or America. And if many more students follow this lead it could be disastrous for the education industry. The government and police are trying to work out what they can do to stop the attacks as soon as possible. But for these protestors who realise it's only a few bad apples carrying out these attacks, all they want is help from the rest of us to stop them. PRESENTER: Hope they catch those responsible quickly. Quiz Right, we mentioned a few other countries in that story, so let’s do a geography quiz. Which country as the largest population? 1. India 2. China 3. United States Answer: China China has the largest population in the world - 1.3 billion. India is next with 1.1, then the United States which is a long way behind with just over 300 million. Bushfire Song Reporter: Catherine Ellis INTRO: Having your own CD and launching it in front of a crowd is what tons of young musicians dream about, but imagine achieving that while you're still at primary school! There's a group of kids in country Victoria who have achieved that and it's all for a very good cause.