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 www.euraseans.com 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] www.conferace.com AC-ESI-2019+ @ PRAGUE.CZ 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.