Why You Will NOT Die In A Plane Crash?
Okay, let us start with the obvious thing. People DO die in plane crashes. However, there are a few reasons why this should not make you fear flying at all.
History of crashes
According to the Aviation Safety Network, 2017 was considered the safest year in commercial aviation. During that year, there were no fatal accidents involving commercial passenger jets. However, this has only sometimes been the case.
The history of aviation, as any other department in engineering, is filled with trial and error. We learn the most from building something, testing it, and then iterating till we reach the desired level of safety. Aviation is no exception to that.
From fatigue failures that were revealed with the de Havilland Comet 1 to the recently occurring Boeing 737 MAX incidents due to non-disclosed information about new software, Aircraft crashes have always been a time of reflection on how we design, manufacture, and operate aircraft.
Any aerospace engineer has specific pictures of crashes in mind from University lectures. They are used in lectures mainly to explain why, when, what, and how incidents occurred and, most importantly, how to avoid them in the future. We do learn from our mistakes.
Why do airplanes crash?
There are several reasons for plane crashes. Some of them are:
- Pilot errors
- Manufacturing defects
- Maintenance error
- Air traffic controller error
- Extreme weather conditions
It is important to know that airplanes are made to withstand extreme conditions and errors. This is seen during the aircraft design phase, where the golden rule says, “No single point of failure is allowed.” This means that a catastrophic crash is not allowed to happen due to the failure of only one system. This leads to having several parts that perform the same function to ensure the said function will always occur as planned. Redundancy is extremely important in aircraft design.
How often do airplane disasters occur?
From an engineering point of view, engineers need to have a number of crashes allowed per year to start the aircraft design phase. YES! This sounds horrible but think about it. Adding safety measures usually means adding weight, cost, manufacturing time, complexity, etc. While it is surely desired to be the most safe aircraft ever, this is not realistic. It is impossible to keep improving an aircraft indefinitely. A point should be defined, usually by the authorities, that deems an aircraft safe enough.
That being said, the number of crashes allowed is one every 1⁰⁶ flight hours. What does this mean?
This means after 1⁰⁶, which is around 114 years of flight hours. A plane is allowed to crash once. You see why you won’t be in a plane crash?
No one has ever, and will ever, fly for 1⁰⁶ hours, and no single plane will do that, too. So, it becomes obvious why plane crashes are so rare.
Don’t worry. Be happy
Here are some fun facts to settle your mind:
- you are more likely to win the lottery than to be in a plane crash
- you are more likely to die in a car crash than in a plane crash
- you are more likely to get struck by lightning than to be in a plane crash
- you are more likely to die from a piece of furniture falling on you than to die in a plane crash
So yes! You will (probably) not die in a plane crash. So next time you are flying to see family, for business, or for a vacation, remember this article and think about the thousands of engineers working day and night to make this magnificent flying machine possible and most importantly SAFE.
