The recent crash of the Air France flight 447, traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board, on June 1, 2009, was one of the deadliest air crashes in the history of Air France. Even though statistically, it is shown that air travel is one of the safest modes of transportations, such horrific tragedies and news are never forgotten even long after they occur. It prompts us to think, ‘how safe is flying’?
A survey conducted twenty years ago showed that about 25 million people in the United States feared flying. The survey was conducted again in March 2001 which showed that 20% of people were still afraid of flying. The September 11 tragedy perhaps has increased their fears and compelled all of us to think, ‘is flying really safe’?
Flying: Is It Safe?
Let us look at some statistics to understand, ‘is flying still safe’?
More than three million people travel by plane everyday. A Boeing aircraft takes off and lands daily all over the world, every two seconds. It is estimated that the air traffic will increase by almost double in the next 20 years.
So, ‘how safe is flying’? Statistics show that flying is 22% safer than traveling by car. The amount of attention given to a crash is evident enough to prove how rare it is. The same kind of coverage is never given to all the car crashes that take place regularly. Though it may come as a shock, a recent study by the National Safety Council, shows that the number of deaths that occur due to car accidents in only a six month period, is equal to the total number of fatalities caused by the crash of commercial jets worldwide in the last 60 years! Another study by the Ministry of Housing, Regional Development and the Environment shows that a person has a chance of 1 in 800,000 of getting killed while traveling by an airplane, while a 1 in 6000 chance in case of a car crash. Even after reading these statistics, it can be difficult for some of us to focus on the chance ratio of 800,000. According to Mr. Nicholas Sabatini, the FAA’s chief safety official, the risk involved in flying is almost zero. In one of his speeches to international air safety investigators, he stated that if you flew once a day, everyday, 365 days a year, it would be 43,000 years before you had a chance of being in a crash, that too 50-50.
No one can provide a 100% guarantee that you will be completely safe, but then who can give a guarantee for any thing in life. You may have situations where even crossing the road may become dangerous. Some people believe that the reason why many people have a phobia of flying, or are nervous while flying is because they have no control if anything does go wrong. It is more of a psychological fear than one based on facts. Such fear is often referred to as aviophobia or aerophobia. People who are aviophobic can know more on how to overcome fear of flying.
We have to keep in mind that airport security in the U.S. has been tightened in the last few years, and is now better than ever. Everyone from security personnels to flight attendants are more alert now. The safety of passengers is the prime objective. Each flight has a Air Marshal aboard, people are allowed only one cabin bag, each bag is screened thoroughly and only passengers with a valid ticket are allowed past security checking points. The pilots now lock the cockpit from inside and cannot open the door to anyone. These measures have no doubt made it safer to fly. Apart from the airlines authority, the government regulators and manufacturers are also responsible for safety. Many airlines also regularly come out with pamphlets that include air travel tips for fliers, which inform them about security measures and other useful information.
Flying is now a necessity more than a luxury, and therefore one cannot categorize flying as an option. Where time is money, how can one really sacrifice hours of travel by other modes, when flying is safe, if not safer than other modes of travel.
Even if we compare our safety to birds whose playground is the sky, thousands of them die each year while in flight by hitting something. So, in the end we can answer the question how safe is flying in a plane by saying that we are more safer than birds!