It really is a safe way

Today marks the 100 year anniversary of the first person killed in a airplane accident, and so there was a report on if air travel is really safe. Contrary to what many people believe, air travel truly is the safest way to travel --- maybe not always the most pleasant, but truly the safest.

MSNBC reported that the the death rate for air travel is 2 people per 10 BILLION miles flown. To give you an example of how many mile that is, the average commercial pilot only flies 525,000 miles a year, so even after a 30 year career, is just under 16 billion miles flown, so the likely hood of of anyone dying in aviation is very, very slim. Now going to auto accidents, there are 181 deaths per 10 billion miles driven, which means you are 90 times more likely to die in a car accident then in a plane accident. Even more concerning that you are 1921 times (yes almost two thousand times) more likely to to even be in an automobile accident than an airplane. So the question remains, why is the fear of flying the 3rd most feared thing (behind heights and spiders)?

Pilots are trained for everything, from the simple probelm to the most severe (such as a double engine failure on our two engine airplanes) and we do things well. Chances are most situations the passengers will not even be aware of, as it does not affect the ultimate safety of flight.

So for all of you out there who are afraid to fly, I would be more concerned about getting into my car than getting into an airplane --- and just remember that you are 80 times more likely to die on the way to the airport than you are to die in an airplane!