Do you honestly believe air traveling is safest? (jet, training, FAA)

[Amber18]

I work for WestJet and so far in its 17 year history no accidents so I feel it is the safest option even though turbulence freaks me out sometimes

[Dockside]

Originally Posted by Amber18

I work for WestJet and so far in its 17 year history no accidents so I feel it is the safest option even though turbulence freaks me out sometimes

Freaks me out too, that's why I take a big, fat Valium an hour before flying. I like to be unconscious before takeoff.

[7express]

Just in the US alone, I'd say at least 1 person on average dies in an accident on the road (and that 1 is probably generous, I'd say its a lot more) every day. The last time a plane crashed in the US that had multiple fatalities?? February of 2009 more than 4.5 years ago.

[Felix C]

The percerntage of incidents per traveled mile is much less but I think the fatality rate per incident is much higher.

[flynavyj]

Originally Posted by 7express

Just in the US alone, I'd say at least 1 person on average dies in an accident on the road (and that 1 is probably generous, I'd say its a lot more) every day. The last time a plane crashed in the US that had multiple fatalities?? February of 2009 more than 4.5 years ago.

The number you have for roads is WICKED low...1 person a day would only be 365 people a year...which would be phenomenal. Looking at NHTSA data there's 1 fatality in the US per 1,060,000 miles traveled, approximately 31,000 traffic deaths / year (we drive a lot) or 85 deaths/day.

Aviation has plenty of accidents as well, many of which occur in small aircraft (not regional jets...think pipers) and kill between 1 and 4 people. Commercial air travel is incredibly safe, same time, I'm sure commercial bus travel, or commercial rail travel is comparatively more safe than driving yourself in a car as well...but it's not like we don't hear about a bus careening off the interstate and bursting into flames every once in a while.

[hifijohn]

Originally Posted by MeteoMan

There's no doubt about it.

How many people have been killed in commercial airplanes worldwide so far this year? Less than 300.

On the roads of the UK alone, 2500-3000 people die a YEAR, and it's the safest country in the world for road travel.

If you feel safe in your car but scared on a plane you should feel very foolish.

we take our cars too casually but getting into any type of car is one of the most dangerous things we can do.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Felix C

The percerntage of incidents per traveled mile is much less but I think the fatality rate per incident is much higher.

So? The fatality rate for being born is 100%, sooner or later. that doesn't keep people from being born.

Seriously, this is so far beyond debate it's silly. The statistics clearly show it is over 2,000 times safer to travel on a commercial airliner than to travel in a car.

Or to look at it another way, it's more dangerous to get stung by a bee than it is to travel by air. 50-100 people die that way in the US every year.

[SAAN]

Ill take a 1.5 hr flight to DC anyday over the 9HR drive in which you have to constantly watch your speed for cops, a random idiots in and out of their lane texting, tail gaters, and just trying not to fall asleep on the road.

Any drive over 4 hrs, you might as well fly. Yes planes will always crash even though it is very rare, but 34K people die a year in car accidents as well

[wankel7]

Originally Posted by yousah

Where do you think low-hour new pilots first fly at? Regionals.

Are regional airlines safe? - Flight Diversions

That is a great point! All regional airlines feature both a 500 hour total time captain and a 500 hour total time first officer...actually this very wrong.

The captain is going to have thousands of hours of flight time and the first officer is going to have at least 1500 hours now.

The Colgan Q400 crash features a faulty stall recovery technique. As does the Air France A330 crash.

So there you go....a "less experienced" regional airline crash and a crash involving an "experienced" crew.

So, whats your point again?

[yousah]

It's funny that the FAA disagrees with you. That's why they pushed through the new regulations, as a result of regional jet safety. You must have missed that.

There hasn't been a crash of a major airline since 2001. Yet there have been 5 fatal crashes of regional jets during that time and many more incidents. 100% of the fatalities in the last 12 years have been from regional jets, and spread among 5 different carriers. So it's not a carrier-specific problem.

And when it was 500 hours total experience that only equates to about 11 full-time weeks on the job- a little more than two months worth of experience. The FAA's new regs all go towards betting training which is most beneficial with newer pilots versus more experienced pilots. Nice try.