‘The lifetime odds of dying in a commercial airplane accident are far too little to calculate’.
This was a study carried out in the Journal of Air Transport Management in 2024. It was found that the risk of a fatality from commercial air travel has been decreasing globally—from 1 per every 350,000 passenger boardings between 1968 and 1977, to 1 per 7.9 million boardings between 2008 and 2017, to 1 per every 13.7 million passenger boardings between 2018 and 2022.
Imagine you are seated right next to a couple who are holding on for dear life and have barely ate or communicated to each other due to their fear of flying. How do you comfort them or how do you put their minds at rest?
- Turbulence will not destroy a plane. It can be nerve-racking for passengers, but it’s largely just an inconvenience for pilots, the pilot has been trained to manage these bumpy situations. More reassuring? Even when it seems like the plane has dropped hundreds of feet at a clip, it’s likely only moving a few feet.
- The plane has various redundancies when it comes to technical failures. In addition to having two engines, jets also have multiple redundant systems in case one fails. For example, in case there is hydraulic failure of the landing gear, there is a manual system to extend the landing gear.If one engine fails, the aircraft can fly safely to a near airport.And this counts for most aircraft systems.
- There are fewer plane crashes. So how safe are planes now? According to a report from Boeing, the accident rate of commercial jets has declined by 45% between 1974 and 2023, while the fatal accident rate has declined by 68% for the same period. Better yet, over the past two decades, the total number of accidents dropped by about 30%.
- How well trained are the crew? Airline pilots have rigorous standards to ensure they stay sharp. Every six months, commercial airline pilots are required to perform two days of training in a flight simulator. Pilots are faced with several different scenarios in the flight simulator to keep passengers safe. This includes simulated engine failures, fires, instrument failures, bird strikes, and wind shear among many others. So travellers can rest assured the captain knows the right safety manoeuvre to employ, no matter the situation.
- Similarly a flight attendant safety training programme covers various chapters, including emergency equipment, emergency procedures and evacuations, crew resource management, conflict resolution, and first aid. This specialised training equips flight attendants with the skills and knowledge to handle any situation confidently and be well prepared to respond to emergencies. Flight attendants undergo continuous training and updates, ensuring they are always well-prepared to handle any situation. They take quarterly or yearly training and must pass the exams to be able to get in an aircraft.
On a final note you could remind them of the tradeoffs you could be sacrificing by avoiding air travel, even if flying feels like an uncertain option right now. It’s statistically safer worldwide to travel by air, for example, compared to driving.
And then there’s the incalculable experiences you could miss out on by avoiding travel.
Those vacations and reunions provide a lifetime of memories that are very important.
Kevin Whitehead is a seasoned aviator with over 30 years of experience flying for Air Malta/KM Malta.
He has a passion for meteorology and anything aviation-related.
He indulges in good food and travel.
