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You are American. You probably fly domestically in the US all the time without being afraid of accidents. If you take one of the major US players; United, AA, US Airways; and multiply their crash rate with 5, you would obtain an airline that would be considered off the charts super deadly blacklisted. And you would be terrified flying with such an airline even once. Yet, I presume you have no problem taking 5 consecutive flights with AA, which would add up to the same risk. So it doesn't make sense.
You can argue that if all is the same, choose the safer airline. Sure, but when we are talking about infinitesimal risks, it still doesn't make sense. So you will take a one in 10 million risk instead of a one in 2 million risk. So what? You have a much much larger risk getting killed by something else every single day while you're out traveling. Traffic, drowning, robbers, tsunamis, terrorists, earthquakes, diseases. People with this line of reasoning should probably just stay in their home, and wrap themselves in bubble wrap when leaving the house.
And how could a plane convert to a boat? That part doesn't make any sense at all. There are only a handful of cases where wide-bodied jets have successfully landed on water, and to the best of my knowledge, Finnair has NEVER done that, so I repudiate your statement until you provide further proof or explanation.
I guess the fear is caused by two things: (1) commercial air crashes are highly publicised, and (b) while planes hardly ever crash, when they do, your chances of surviving are almost nil.
So even though Qantas has never had a fatal crash (or airplane loss) in all the jet age, and is high up the list, it is still not the safest airline - since it has a relatively modest number of take-offs and landing per year (fewer planes, and a high percentage of long-haul), compared to something like Delta - which has had crashes, but is deemed "safer". Qantas would only need one fatal crash and its safety ranking would plummet (so to speak).
Another dangerous flight was from Kathmandu, Nepal, to Lukla, and the beginning of the Everest trek. We had to wait for the overcast skies to clear. A very short runway in Lukla and great hazzard of wind shear. I read in the newspaper about that plane crashing about a year later.
Another scary flight was waiting for the lightening storm to clear over Tanzania's Spice Islands before we could safely take off for Nairobi. The lightening strikes put out the electricity in the airport. It's detrimental for small airplanes, too.
their safety record had so vastly improved... Today, will drive from NorCal to San Diego among all
those Angeleno freeway jockeys-- definitely taking a risk. But that's what makes life so much fun! Then it's
on to the skydiving and scuba diving! Have a great week!
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30
Nice find. Indigo is a great Indian airline. I flew them six weeks ago in Nepal and India. Young, hip and cheap. And your fear of Aeroflot is irrational. I hate it when people say "I'll never fly Aeroflot". It's so cliche. They are a safe airline nowadays, haven't had an accident in over a decade (although one of their regionals did). Air France has the worst safety record in Europe in recent times. Besides, even if one airline was 5 times less safe than another (which would make them off-the-charts blacklisted), I bet you wouldn't hesitate to take 5 consecutive flights on the safe one, although you would never set foot on the "unsafe" one. See, it doesn't make sense. Moreover, your risk of getting killed in a traffic accident is far far greater than any airline.32
This is the line of reasoning:You are American. You probably fly domestically in the US all the time without being afraid of accidents. If you take one of the major US players; United, AA, US Airways; and multiply their crash rate with 5, you would obtain an airline that would be considered off the charts super deadly blacklisted. And you would be terrified flying with such an airline even once. Yet, I presume you have no problem taking 5 consecutive flights with AA, which would add up to the same risk. So it doesn't make sense.
You can argue that if all is the same, choose the safer airline. Sure, but when we are talking about infinitesimal risks, it still doesn't make sense. So you will take a one in 10 million risk instead of a one in 2 million risk. So what? You have a much much larger risk getting killed by something else every single day while you're out traveling. Traffic, drowning, robbers, tsunamis, terrorists, earthquakes, diseases. People with this line of reasoning should probably just stay in their home, and wrap themselves in bubble wrap when leaving the house.
And how could a plane convert to a boat? That part doesn't make any sense at all. There are only a handful of cases where wide-bodied jets have successfully landed on water, and to the best of my knowledge, Finnair has NEVER done that, so I repudiate your statement until you provide further proof or explanation.
34
In fact, this irrationality is instiutionalised ...four company executives will catch the same cab along a dangerous freeway to the airport, but take separate planes to their destination. The President and Vice President never travel on the same plane. The Queen, Prince Charles, and now Prince Williams never travel on the same plane, but I bet they travel in the same vehicle.I guess the fear is caused by two things: (1) commercial air crashes are highly publicised, and (b) while planes hardly ever crash, when they do, your chances of surviving are almost nil.
35
Did you hear about the Air Bagan crash in Burma on Christmas? Interestingly enough, only 2 people died (both locals when the plane was full of tourists too...I assume they stayed back while Westerners got out first). I was actually in air on another local airline when this happened. The plane got destroyed and our next flight on this airline got postponed because they only have 6 planes total. Haha37
I read a list within the last couple of weeks of the 10 airlines with the most accidents recently, and learned that I have flown on several of them -- China Air (Taiwan), Singapore Air, and Thai Air. At the time that I flew on them, they had been recommend as being excellent.38
Determining the safety rank of airlines is a pretty straightforward formula ... and not based on the number of crashes. It takes the number of take-offs and landing per year, and applies a uniform crash-rate factor, and if your accident record is below the result, then you're safer, and if you're higher than the predicted rate, then you are less safe.So even though Qantas has never had a fatal crash (or airplane loss) in all the jet age, and is high up the list, it is still not the safest airline - since it has a relatively modest number of take-offs and landing per year (fewer planes, and a high percentage of long-haul), compared to something like Delta - which has had crashes, but is deemed "safer". Qantas would only need one fatal crash and its safety ranking would plummet (so to speak).
39
I forgot to include the time that I flew on a Beaver floatplane from Juneau, Alaska, out to Glacier Bay, through a thick blanket of fog -- no other planes were allowed to fly. My plane did not have radar -- no radar at primitive landing site, so the pilot planned to land on water, especially if we could not continue flying further west and had to stop part-way there. The ilot maneuvered the 10-seater prop plane around the island mountain peaks, and we landed safely.Another dangerous flight was from Kathmandu, Nepal, to Lukla, and the beginning of the Everest trek. We had to wait for the overcast skies to clear. A very short runway in Lukla and great hazzard of wind shear. I read in the newspaper about that plane crashing about a year later.
Another scary flight was waiting for the lightening storm to clear over Tanzania's Spice Islands before we could safely take off for Nairobi. The lightening strikes put out the electricity in the airport. It's detrimental for small airplanes, too.
44
I wouldn't take everything I scribble so seriously! Just going off the rap Aeroflot had in the past- unawaretheir safety record had so vastly improved... Today, will drive from NorCal to San Diego among all
those Angeleno freeway jockeys-- definitely taking a risk. But that's what makes life so much fun! Then it's
on to the skydiving and scuba diving! Have a great week!
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