Plane Crashes Lately
 

I hate to post something like this, but there has been a rash of passenger jet crashes lately, and it's kinda freaking me out.

-Air France in Toronto, miraculously everyone survives
-that emergency water landing off Italy, and many actually survied

After these two, my paranoias about flying were easing because I began to see that crashes are survivable.

Then,

-Crash in hills near Greece / Croatia - no survivors
- Crash in Venezuela (was it there? Brazil?)- no survivors
-Crash today in Peru (thank God, 20-30 survivors?)

It's really getting at my nerves. Anyone else feel shaken?

Nope.

Statistically, flying is still much much much safer than driving. The Air France and TANS crashes seem to be weather-related; the others sound like maintenance lapses. If you're flying mainline US carriers, their maintenance procedures are stricter than ever, and they're (anecdotally) much more careful about weather problems these days, so I'd say we're just fine. I just flew this past weekend, and I'll be flying a couple of more times in the next month, and I have not even a whit of apprehension. Nor should you.

You forgot about the 4 blown out tires on the Northwest landing the otherday! everyone was okay though! To answer your question, I am more concerned about the HUGE number of cancelled flights--every single person who has flown in the last two weeks that I have spoken to (15 people, plus their companions) have had one or more flight cancellations. all on different (domestic) airlines! and out of different parts of the country! And only two were due to weather.

What, are they trying to save fuel? this is too many for a coincidence...

I have no fear of flying and these accidents will not stop me from flying. But yes, I am bothered every time I turn on the news to hear of an accident. I was shaken to the bone when I first heard of the AF jet in Toronto, but I was overjoyed when I heard that everyone survived. However, it does seem like there have been a lot of fatal accidents lately. I am a little concerned that the high cost of jet fuel will cause the airlines to cut corners elsewhere. By that I'm not saying I won't fly, I just hope that if they do start cutting corners, they keep the same standards for safety and maintenance.

Yes, I worry about fuel costs, cutting corners, safety and maintenance, too. It seems like with so many corporations (airlines included) the primary concern to the big whigs is the bottom line. And it just can't be that way when human lives are on the line. Take NW Airlines... its mechanics are on strike right now, and they have scabs standing in, but I just heard a report on how the regular mechanics are standing by, giving critiques on what the scabs are doing. Scary.

OK, we had a brand new Embraer and a nearly new (200 hours)Boeing 737 in a mid air in Brazil this week.
Who is skimping on avionics?
Where in hell were the air traffic controllers?
M

It's too soon in the Brazilian crash investigation to really form an opinion, but <b>O Globo</b> is reporting that the Embraer pilot ignored air traffic controllers' orders to descend below 37,000 feet, where the 737 was cruising (link to AP report via Yahoo!):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061003/...JlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Sounds like pilot error to me (cf. Park Slope midair in 1960, Cerritos midair in 1986)....

re rjw_lgb_ca:

Unfortunate that, in addition to messing up this thread because you didn't use www.tinyurl.com, you'd forgotten your very appropriate opening comment (<i>It's too soon in the Brazilian crash investigation to really form an opinion</i>) by the time you'd gotten to your closing comment (<i>Sounds like pilot error to me</i>).

according to the BBC program 95% of people in plane crashes survive - it's only the hi-profile &quot;lots of people dead&quot; crashes that make the national press

I believe they define crashes to include taxiway incidents which, due to the low speeds involved (and our all having our seatbelts fastened) would rarely produce fatalities. That would really help their statistics.

Its hard to believe that many would survive a crash at altitude, given the high speeds involved, and the natural forces acting on a damaged plane. Still, it is statistically a very safe way to travel, especially if you can avoid driving on your way to the airport. When you think of the huge number of passengers, it is frankly surprising that so few are killed.

I would feel safer on a train, but given how few people travel on trains, and the occasional accident, the trains don't look as good in the statistics as planes.

We were in a pretty quiet spell for a long time there. Maybe we we just &quot;due,&quot; sadly.

One source suggests that air travel accidents rank behind motorcycle accidents. The same report concluded that bus travel is safest! Air travel ststistics are 'skewed' because they use mileage travelled as a factor. Worried? Consider the automobile. The USA loses 45,000 people a year...How many are lost in air accidents? Next...smoking! A figure of 500,000 early deaths is usually posted. Nature is challenging the humans to survive.

&quot;given how few people travel on trains&quot; - true ONLY in the US. In many other countries trains transport large numbers of passengers. With Amtrak the main problem is their total inability to keep to schedule.

It has actually been a pretty safe period. The National Transportation Safety Board maintains a list of accident reports by month at
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/month.asp

You will see that almost all fatal aircraft accidents are private aircraft.

Perhaps the commonest commercial accidents are low speed collisions on the ground, mostly with baggage tugs.

The commonest accident in the air is a passenger or flight attendant injured during turbulence when they are in the aisle after the captain has turned on the seat belts. The FA may not have a choice; the passenger is usually a fool.

I flew ~60K miles this year and I'm still kicking. :-D

I have a trip to Peru in 2 weeks, a trip to Portland right after, a trip to London in early November, a trip to Dublin in late November and finally a trip to Amsterdam and Brussels in early December.

How much you want to make a bet that I will be my self obnoxious self here in late December? :-)

I meant to say &quot;I flew ~80K miles&quot; not 60K...

AAFF, we all look forward to you here in late December!

Lynne

But compare this period (the Toronto incident was a while ago) to the 80s or even the '90s and there are precious few airline crashes. Wasn't it in the mid-90s that USAir had something like 3 major crashes in one year?