Google it, if you want. Write “What’s the safest mode of travel?”, you’ll instantly know that flying is the safest way. Some of you will think “that can’t be true”, while others will say “that makes sense”. The actual question is, “really? Prove it”. I will prove to you that despite the various ways to visit far away places, whether on the road or over the sea, the safest way to do it is flying.

First things first, flying isn’t the problem. Whenever we hear of something happening to an aircraft, not even an accident, we become terrified. Why? Because they are rare, you’ll notice no matter where it happens, everyone in the world will know about it, thus enhancing their fear of flying. It’s all about risk perception, whenever we hear of a plane crash, it sticks, therefor induces fear and makes us believe that these are common even though they’re not. For example, car accidents happen every day, therefore it doesn’t surprise us. Though unfortunate, car accidents are so common they tend to feel like a norm.

Back to our question, why is air travel the safest way to go places?

The training that pilots go through is strenuous. The multiple subjects they have to know by heart and all the checklists they have to go through one by one, and we’re still on the ground here. After accomplishing all of that and much more, we start our long training hours in flight. Going through more checklists, working with ATC, and managing the flight. It’s still not enough, because there’s always more to learn and room for improvement. A pilot’s number one concern and reason for this training is the safety of their flight.

At the same time, technology has evolved over the past years increasing the safety of air travel. The technology on the aircraft is monitoring everything in the flight and everything that happens around the plane. With time, it will only become better thus keeping air travel the safest way to travel.

We have Air Traffic Controllers. Imagine having someone monitor your every move, making sure you don’t make a mistake or stopping you from making one. Basically parents, minus the empathy and unconditional love because no one is going to forgive you if you make one. The Federal Aviation Association (FAA) put all kinds of rules and regulations that have to be followed. it’s not like ignoring a stop sign or keep going when the red light is on. You break one rule and it can have disastrous results. Therefore, all pilots take their jobs seriously in order to ensure your safety.

Finally, air travel resulted in 0.07 deaths for every 1 billion miles travelled compared to 212.57 for motorcycles and 7.28 for cars. I hope this article lessened your fear of flying, if you have one, or helped you understand a bit more about why flying is safer.

Resources:

https://www.sheffield.com/air-travel-safest-mode-transportation
https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/airplanes-safest-way-to-travel
https://www.tripsavvy.com/the-safest-mode-of-transportation-4082220#:~:text=%20What%27s%20the%20Safest%20Mode%20of%20Travel%3F%20,United%20States.%20Once%20considered%20America%27s%20primary…%20More%20