Braybuddy From Ireland, joined Aug 2004, 5276 posts, RR: 35 Posted (7 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1282 times:
Being off work sick and having nothing better to do, browsing through an accident database I totalled the accidents and fatalaties for two years, 1954 and 2004. The results were remarkably similar, despite a 50 year gap and a massive increase in air travel and a large increase in aircraft size:
NWCOflyer From United States of America, joined Jun 2003, 641 posts, RR: 15 Reply 1, posted (7 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1264 times:
Is really amazing when you consider how many thousands more planes are in the air, and how many millions more are traveling now. Certainly if there is an upside in the world of aviation right now, it is dramatically improved safety.
Condor From Germany, joined Mar 2001, 68 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (7 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1249 times:
Yes, if you consider that traffic increased dramatically over the past 50 years you have to say that the current safety stats are impressive indeed. I wonder how it will look like in another 10 or 20 years. Traffic will increase even more but the airspace is not unlimited. The result might be that we´ll have even closer seperations than today. So lets hope the accidents won´t become more...
Commavia From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 10188 posts, RR: 63 Reply 3, posted (7 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1234 times:
Impressive is definitely the right word for it. To think that in the course of any given day, giant metal tubes take to the skies probably 30,000 times carrying people and cargo, and that on probably 360 out of 365 days of the year, not one of them ever even comes close to any other one. That's is amazing -- just goes to prove once again that flying is by far the safest way to travel.
Scbriml From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2003, 11357 posts, RR: 50 Reply 4, posted (7 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1208 times:
I think that record is likely to improve somewhat in the short term. It's interesting to note that (as far as I'm aware) no A330, A340 or 777 has been lost in service.
It will be interesting to see what happens to accident rates and losses as we see more third tier airlines now starting to use older Western type. I'm thinking of A310s, 737s and 757s now replacing older Russian types in many Russian airlines.
Braybuddy From Ireland, joined Aug 2004, 5276 posts, RR: 35 Reply 5, posted (7 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1186 times:
I can remember, probably twenty years ago, that insurers were predicting a large hull loss rate of one per month in the years ahead. That would have resulted in probably 2,500+ fatalaties every year. Thankfully, this never materialised.
Yeah, impressive indeed. Also... just FYI, in Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre, safety is improving even though traffic is on the rise and has actually even reached record levels
Ikramerica From United States of America, joined May 2005, 21025 posts, RR: 60 Reply 8, posted (7 years 10 months 2 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1082 times:
It all comes down to more reliability of machines which comes from computer diagnostics, higher precision and consistency of parts manufacturing, and improvements in maintenance techniques and requirements.
I would also so that the liberalization/deregulation of the industry around the world has helped, as airlines must compete more directly on cost and reliability, and having a safe, trouble free plane helps on both fronts, which encourages all manufacturers to prioritize safety and dispatch reliability.
Of all the things to worry about... the Wookie has no pants.
Sponsor Message: 
From Ireland, joined Aug 2004, 5276 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jun 2003, 641 posts, 
From Germany, joined Mar 2001, 68 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2003, 11357 posts, 
From Austria, joined May 2005, 4604 posts, 
From Netherlands, joined Jun 2005, 1284 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
