Afraid to Fly

You’re not going to walk to Morocco. It's unlikely you're pondering a ferry over to Iceland. Hoping to hire a hot air balloon to Madagascar? Doubtful. No, if you’re anything like me chances are you’re packing your carry-on and downloading 12 hours of movies for a long-haul flight to whisk you away on your next overseas adventure. In many ways, there’s something magical about air travel. Close quarters with drooling strangers aside, time-warping across the planet can feel almost peaceful in its distance from the real world down below. Your calendar doesn’t matter at 40,000 feet. You’re not late for soccer, you don’t have to stare into the fridge until you give up and reheat pasta for the third time this week. In fact, someone is about to bring you some piping hot mediocre meatloaf and it’s going to taste incredible because you don’t have a damn care in the world. I’m smiling wistfully into space just thinking about it.

But alas, amidst the safety incidents in recent years, the magic of flying is fading for me a bit. Sadly, my love for travel is being tinged with the bitter taste of fear as my sense of unease around flying grows with each shocking news story. But it’s not my style to sit idly by when something is amiss. Information is power, so let’s dig into the data on flying and see if we can uncover any comfort in the facts. Together, maybe we can recapture the magic and strategize ways to hold the air-travel-powers-that-be accountable to keep that magic alive.

What is Going On

Scary headlines about air travel have been dominating news feeds and they’re not unfounded. The start to the year has been very troubling for airline safety and, unfortunately, they are not entirely isolated incidents. From mid-air collisions, crash-landings, failing emergency exit doorways, to faulty maneuvering systems - the last 7 years have seemed to bring a barrage of safety issues to our doorstep with little insight as to why they are happening or whether we can feel confident that they won’t happen again.

Incidents from the recent years reveal some common contributing factors:

• human error & insufficient crew training

• technical malfunctions

• negligence, fraud, and cover-ups

  
  

Yeah, that last one is especially concerning - but let’s go one-by-one.

Human Error & Insufficient Crew Training

While catastrophic pilot error is exceedingly rare, when it does happen it can often be attributed to inadequate training or fatigue. When a pilot is not fully briefed on the tech in their plane, that’s a huge risk. This was unfortunately a factor in the tragic 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. Test flights and simulators are critical training but, alone, not enough. Pilots need detailed information on why and how safety programs work to be able to pilot effectively alongside them.

Fatigue has been a difficult topic in aviation for a long time. There are federal regulations that govern crew on-duty limits and rest requirements, but it hasn’t quite been enough to protect pilots. As travel demand surges post-pandemic, so too has the chaos of flight schedules. Airlines are feeling the pressure, which can get passed on to pilots when they are asked to extend their duty period to make up for lost time - especially for some airlines that are already short-staffed.

Technical Malfunctions

In 2019, Boeing's entire fleet of 737 MAX jets was grounded worldwide for two years following two tragic accidents involving an issue with software called MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System). The system was designed to prevent stalls by automatically adjusting the plane's nose, but it malfunctioned due to faulty sensor data. Unfortunately, in addition to poor design, training on the system had not been provided to pilots nor included in the manual. Without this safeguard in place, its failure was devastating.

Negligence, Fraud, and Cover-Ups

Mistakes and malfunctions are one thing, but attempts to cover them up or ignore dangerous issues are particularly problematic. If you’re interested in humorous, in-depth, PG-13 coverage of this topic - I recommend checking out this episode of Last Week Tonight. There’s way more to unpack here than we can efficiently do in a paragraph, but the heart of the issue centers around a serious conflict of interest where regulatory oversight was performed by employees of the manufacturer themselves, in this case Boeing, rather than by external FAA inspectors. This unfortunately allowed cost-saving measures that overlooked safety standards and cut corners, which ultimately led to tragedy.

Why You Shouldn’t Freak Out

While these issues are scary, and nothing is ever guaranteed, the fact is that flying remains one of the safest ways to get around. It’s true there are significant issues that need addressing, yet it’s also true that we've already done a lot of work to make flying the highly safe and secure form of travel that it is today. Your odds of dying in a plane crash are about 1 in 11 million. That’s way better than driving, which is around 1 in 5,000.

A focus on well-tested tech, crew training, emergency protocols, operations scaling, and stricter maintenance checks has resulted in a 60% drop in fatal flight accidents over the last two decades. If we keep investing in air travel safety and demand transparency from the industry, the data around safety should only get better and better in the coming years.

Another thing we can take comfort in is that, due to immense pressure from consumers, the FAA and Boeing is now under intense scrutiny and is being held accountable to address their disturbing past shortfalls. Given more transparent and ethical industry standards, there is good reason to believe we will continue the encouraging safety trend of the past 2 decades.

A Green Silver Lining

Encouragingly, some of the most notable air travel advancements in recent years have been able to address both safety and sustainability. Air traffic management systems help optimize flight routes, which helps lower mid-air collision risks and also reduces fuel consumption and thus carbon emissions. Predictive maintenance sensors can identify issues before they become problems, preventing dangerous mechanical failures and extending the operational lifespan of many aircraft, reducing waste.

What Can You Do?

For one, you can stop clicking on all the articles with scary headlines that post to your feed. Unfortunately, as you do your best to stay informed the internet is often working against you. Algorithms start feeding you content that will get you to keep clicking and all of a sudden you’re seeing article after article on near-misses, go-around maneuvers, and aborted landings that you never saw with such frequency before. Does that mean they’re happening more? It sure doesn’t. You click once and the internet overlords begin to form a cozy little filter bubble that you’ll be horrified to live in for as long as it takes you to stop clicking on that type of content. So give your poor brain a break and if it seems like clickbait, ignore it.

Even with all the data, you may still be feeling afraid to fly. It’s understandable. We want to know we are safe and hurtling through the air in a metal tube at 600mph feels very much like the opposite of safe. If you’re looking for something tangible you can do, here are a few suggestions:

1. Vote for trustworthy and competent political leaders. The FAA is the primary governing body overseeing aviation safety in the U.S. and the President of the United States appoints its administrator. Regulators like the FAA set standards and hold manufacturers and airlines accountable to those standards. It’s imperative that we can trust its leadership.

   
   

2. Use your dollar as your voice. If the option is available to you, consistently fly with airlines that prioritize customer experience, safety transparency, and sustainability. Stay informed and make it clear that you won’t settle for less than the highest of safety and sustainability standards.

   
   

3. Do your research. Know the facts about the airlines you fly and the planes they use, especially if you’re venturing far from home. IOSA is the global industry standard for airline operational safety. Safety trends among airlines who are on the IOSA registry are around 4x better than the rate for non-IOSA airlines and accident rates are more than 2x better. Before you buy your tickets, double-check that your carrier is on the list!

Even though air travel tragedies are rare, they are still very much tragedies all the same. No data point makes up for that. The facts can, however, help you balance your perspective as you determine what level of risk you feel comfortable taking on. The answer to that question will be different for everyone.

With the right advancements, worrying about commercial airline crashes could soon very well become a thing of the past. In the meantime, I encourage you to be brave. Arm yourself with the right information from trustworthy sources, don’t get sucked into scary clickbait, and remember that it’s okay to feel nervous. That doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t still do the scary thing - especially when there is a grand adventure awaiting you on the other side of it.

Sources: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Annual Safety Report, 2022; Flight Safety Foundation/Aviation Safety Network; Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB); Boeing 2023 Statistical Summary; U.S. Department of Justice, Airline Pilots Association International (ALPA)