International Civil Aviation Safety Law: Based on Analysis of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and MH17

The missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 shows that international aviation safety legal mechanism has two major defects. The first is the lack of legal protection on how aircraft operators and manufactures provide and share the information of aircraft operation. The second is the lack of safety risk assessment system and early warning mechanism in the areas of armed conflicts. It is not practicable to improve the defects by international law, for it is very difficult to sign an international treaty among states in the first place, then the ambiguity of the treaty makes it difficult to implement, let alone the non-mandatory in execution. Therefore, to ensure international aviation safety and avoid similar accidents from happening again, it is necessary to improve the domestic legal system of aircraft airworthiness, specifying the responsibility of aircraft manufacturers, engine manufacturers and aircraft operators on the publicity and sharing of information of aircraft operation. At the same time, it is also very important to establish the safety risk assessment system and early warning mechanism in the domestic law.