Flying?

I know, I know, most commercial flights take off and land perfectly safely. I’ve flown a lot and the worst I’ve ever experienced, in flight, was a little nasty turbulence. That and rudely selfish fellow passengers who don’t seem to understand that the person sitting behind them (e.g., yurs truly) don’t have retractable legs.

Even without all that pesky loss-of-life business flying seems to be a dicey undertaking.

A United flight from Maui to San Francisco plummeted to less than 800ft above the Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff in December, an apparent near crash and previously unreported safety incident revealed by airline industry publication the Air Current.

Flight tracking data analysis revealed that the Boeing 777-200 had reached an altitude of roughly 2,200ft when it began a steep dive, descending at a rate of about 8,600ft a minute. After dipping below 775ft, the flight recovered altitude and traveled to San Francisco without further issue.
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In January, two planes at John F Kennedy airport in New York nearly collided  when an American Airlines plane crossed the runway ahead of a Delta plane that was accelerating for takeoff. The American Airlines pilots involved in that case have refused to give investigators recorded interviews, and they have been sent subpoenas seeking to compel them to testify, the NTSB said in a statement last week.

And last Sunday, two planes at Austin-Bergstrom international airport had a near miss when air traffic control cleared them to land and depart on the same runway at the same time. Six fatal air accidents during 2022 claimed 174 lives of passengers and crew, together with four people on the ground. Despite these tragedies, it was one of the safest years for commercial air travel in history. (source)

Huh. One of the safest years. I think, before I take my next trip, I’ll shop around for not the cheapest flight but the airline with the best safety record AND the most legroom. I wonder if any of these top ten airlines have Boston to Reykjavik runs. Also, n.b., there is only one U.S. airline in that top ten safest airlines list—Alaska Airlines.

The aviation death toll of 174 corresponds to the average number of fatalities on the roads in an hour and a quarter worldwide. (source)

Okay, seen from that angle, flying looks a lot less dangerous. Except for the whole being 33,000 to 40,000 feet up in the air in a claustrophobia inducing metal tube thing.

Did you know? Vultures and cranes can fly over 33,000 feet high. Well then, now ya do.