Delta VP awards 8-year-old for plan to locate planes lost at sea

After watching a program on the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, an 8-year-old burgeoning aeronautical superstar was inspired to write a letter to Delta's CEO offering up a pretty practical solution for preventing such mysteries from occurring in the future — and it's probably better than anything you or I would have suggested.

Young Benjamin's plan for locating planes crashed at sea involves a large orange balloon tethered to the crash location, with an RF transmitter inside that would broadcast the coordinates of the deploy site.

Ben also included this handy drawing to really help sell his pitch.

Young Ben's suggestion was such a hit, that Delta Senior Vice President of Corporate Safety, Security and Compliance John E. Laughter responded to the boy, promising to share his idea with Delta's team of experts. Not bad for an 8-year-old!  Ben also scored a package full of Delta-branded goodies like model airplanes and bendy pencils that Laughter's own son helped pick out.

Ben's mother Laura gushed about her son's letter and Delta's considerate response, telling Consumerist, "He was so excited. It’s nice that a busy executive took a few minutes out of his day to help a little boy feel like his ideas are important."

Many thanks to Ben for doing his part. The whole team here at RWV looks forward to hearing more of this young man's ideas over the next 20 years or so.