The Americas



An eight-year-old body had a surprise for executives at Delta Airlines when he sent them detailed ideas of how the aviation industry might track the whereabouts of a plane in the event of a crash into the ocean.

Delta Airline executives were surprised to get a proposal for a boy (8) detailing how to recover lost planes after they crash into the ocean

Delta Airline executives were surprised to get a proposal for a boy (8) detailing how to recover lost planes after they crash into the ocean Image by Prayitno / CC BY 2.0

The young boy, Ben Jensen from Ogden, Utah was watching a programme with his mother, Laura, about how planes sometimes mysteriously disappear, including a major piece on the fate of the Malaysian MH370.

Yahoo news reports that the young inventor was so affected by the news feature ‘Why Planes Disappear’ that he immediately went to work on how an emergency airplane system could make it earlier to find a craft if it crashed into the sea.

Laura  then assisted her son as he wrote to the CEO of Delta, Mr Richard Anderson.

In the letter, Ben explained how neon orange balloons could come to the water surface but be heavy enough not to fly into the air and durable enough to withstand plenty of pressure.

The boy even included drawings of his plan, showing how a radio transmitter in the balloons would help search aircraft get to the right area.

As a son of parents who both served in the Air Force, it is perhaps not surprisingly that Ben has always been fascinated with every type of airplane, especially military types.

Delta were so impressed with his blueprint that he received a special package from the carrier’s senior Vice President of Safety, Security and Compliance, John E. Laughter.

In it were two model planes as well as branded merchandise.

Mr Laughter commended the young inventor and promised that he would share the eight-year-old’s vision for airplane tracking with experts in the field.

His mother claimed her son was “ecstatic” with Delta’s response.