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The plane facts  According to the Geneva-based Aircraft
Crashes Record Office 2007 was one of the safest years in aviation ever.
There were 136 accidents with 965 people dying throughout the world. No
major accident occurred in Europe confirming its position as the safest
continent on which to fly.
For the purposes of the survey all accidents involving aircraft capable
of carrying at least six passengers plus crew swere taken into account.
Not included were accidents involving helicopters, balloons, gliders,
fighting aircraft and private planes.
Zero risk does not exist in the aviation industry — but 2007 came
mighty close. The total of 136 accidents worldwide was 28 less than 2006
and the lowest since 1963 when, of course, there were a miniscule number
of flights compared with today.
Of the 2007 total 23 per cent of the accidents occurred in the USA. However
those 34 accidents shouldn’t put you off flying to the States. It
is by far the busiest nation in the world for flights — a similar
situation to Canada which recorded the second highest number of accidents.
Of the 136 accidents in 2007, 56 caused no fatalities. Historian in Aircraft
Accidents and head of the Record Office, Ronan Hubert, said: “In
2007 more than 2billion were travelling worldwide and we have thousands
and thousands of aircraft flying every day worldwide. It means that aviation
is one of the safest transport modes in the world. In the same period
of time that those 136 accidents occurred more than 1million people were
killed in road accidents.”
The commercial air industry, of course, never draws public attention to
its safety record.
Even those airlines which are amongst the safest carriers in the world
such as Quantas (which has never had a fatality) or Aer Lingus, without
a blemish in almost 40 years, are keener to mention their time-keeping
than their ability to operate aircraft safely.
Nonetheless, as your aircraft begins to taxi along towards the runway,
you may well ruminate on the fact that air crashes do occur — people
do get killed. Not all routes are equally safe, nor indeed are all airlines.
The US aviation industry has a very good safety record unlike Africa which
has the worst.
Dozens of airlines in seven African countries are blacklisted in Europe
and the United States and in particular countries such as Somalia, Sudan
and the Congo are amongst the unsafest in the world. However airlines
in Kenya, South Africa and the north African countries are reliable and
safe.
And one statistic can’t be argued about: Last year in Ireland over
400 people
were killed in road accidents; (in Britain the figure is about a dozen
people a day).
On the other hand there has not been a single fatality on a scheduled
airline flight in Ireland in close to 40 years. It’s as safe as
houses. Well, safer actually.
There are more household accidents than any other type of mishap.
Happy flying!
Air safety points:
- Always choose bigger aircraft — if there is a crash, you’ve
a better chance of survival (and always make sure you sit no more than
five rows from an emergency exit).
- European, American and Australian airlines usually use newer aircraft
— which tend to be safer.
- Choose flights with as few stopovers as possible. Near an airport
is the riskiest place for a plane. Seventy per cent of aircraft incidents
in recent years have occurred on take-off or landing.
- You won’t do it but you should: Listen to the pre-flight safety
demonstration; suss out where the emergency exits are. Find out how they
open — outwards, upwards or downwards ?
- Keep your seatbelt fastened whilst you are seated. This is important
should the aircraft hit unexpected turbulence. Make sure you know how
the seatbelt releases (it’s not like a car seatbelt and needs to
be lifted at least 90 degrees to open)
- Final point: Finnair, Sabena, Kuwait Airways and Air Jamaica, like
Aer Lingus, have suffered no fatalities for over 30 years. Ryanair —
although involved in the last couple of years in some half-dozen incidents
(including what the airline industry calls “unstable approaches”)
— has an unblemished safety record since its inception 23 years
ago. Its only ‘accident’ occurred in 2002 when one of its
737s went on fire after it landed in Stansted. No-one was injured. |
