Have you seen this year’s recent aviation accidents? Are you afraid to fly? If so, you shouldn’t rush to cancel your vacation just yet!
Even though there have been many major plane crashes occurring over the past few months, resulting in hundreds of deaths, you may have the recurring question pop up in your head: Is it safe to fly? In fact, yes, it is! Although the media has mass-produced news about the aviation incidents that have taken place mainly in January and February of this year, experts at NBC Washington continue to say yes, as well as bringing up how “the [aviation] system needs attention”.
It may be overwhelming at first to consider all of the recent incidents, especially just starting off in the new year. But statistically speaking, it is much safer to fly nowadays than it was decades ago. Thanks to advancements in aircraft manufacturing, a more sophisticated approach to weather imaging, and tighter safety regulations, aviation has been deemed to be quite safe.
According to the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which tracks aviation accident statistics and investigates aviation incidents, there was an estimated number of nearly 24 million flight hours in 2007. Of those 24 million hours, 6.84 of every 100,000 flight hours yielded a plane crash, and 1.19 of every 100,000 yielded a fatal crash; this is a drastic decrease in numbers from an all-time high record of 9.08 accidents every 100,000 hours recorded in 1994 according to panish.law. Otherwise, the odds of a plane crashing are extremely rare (especially nowadays), with a probability of 1 in 11 million, which means there is a 0.00001% chance that something may go wrong with your flight!
Most people may also wonder what the most dangerous times are when it comes to flying. In most cases, takeoff and landing, as well as the periods before and after those events, are known to be the most dangerous times when flying. Although this may be the case, air travel is considered to be much safer compared to other forms of transportation; with train travel and car travel, air travel has way fewer fatal accidents compared to the two, according to Greenville online.
Understandably, many people may still have lingering fears about flying since we are all humans who deal with these emotions. Although you’re not obligated to fly depending on your own choices, for many people, flying is inevitable. Ultimately, it’s all up to you to decide whether you think flying is safe or not. But it seems pretty clear that it is much safer than you think.
