It is said that all aviation safety regulations are written in blood, but how true is this?
Every year, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) releases its Global Safety Report. In its latest edition, the results showed that in 2022, the aviation industry saw an almost 10% reduction in accidents compared to 2020 – moreover, deaths from aircraft accidents fell by more than 65%.
Interestingly, these numbers have decreased despite an increase in the number of scheduled flights. ICAO attributes the safety improvements to shared safety commitments across the industry. In fact, the trend over many years of aviation is that flying today is safer than ever before.
Improve safety over time
According to research conducted by Harvard University, flying in the United States, Europe, and Australia is safer than driving a car. The chances of you having an accident during a flight are one in 1.2 million, and the chance of it being fatal is one in 11 million. In comparison, your chances of dying in a car accident are more than 200,000 times higher, with an average of one in 5,000.
Harvard is not the only American academic institution researching this topic. In fact, a 2020 MIT study tracked how much airline safety has improved in recent years. Between 2008 and 2017, there was one death for every 7.9 million passengers who took a flight, while between 1998 and 2007, it was closer to one death for every 2.7 million passengers.
This trend became even more pronounced in the pre-9/11 era, with low safety standards, limited security, and airport vending machines offering airline insurance. From 1988 to 1997, there was one death for every 1.3 million passengers, and from 1978 to 1987, that number dropped to one death for every 750,000 passengers. The period from 1968 to 1977 saw a poor record of one death for every 350,000 passengers. If adjusted for 2023 traffic figures, that would represent at least 18 aviation-related deaths each day.
Arnold Barnett, author of the MIT research paper, summarized the findings, outlining the amazing work the aviation industry has done to reduce fatal accidents.
“The risk of being killed worldwide has fallen by two-fold every decade… and the pace of improvement has not slowed at all, even as flying is safer than ever and making more gains is more difficult. This is truly impressive and What’s important is for people to take it into consideration.
Different prices for different regions
Of course, within the data, geographic differences can be found. Countries where travelers will find less risky airlines include Europe, China, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. In all of these countries, the death rate between 2008 and 2017 was one per 33.1 million travellers. Meanwhile, the airlines most at risk came from developing countries that typically operate older aircraft or have limited regulatory oversight, such as Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Photo: Chicago Midway Airport
In these locations, the overall risk was found to be 1 death for every 1.2 million travellers. But even here, safety culture has improved dramatically, from one fatality for every 400,000 passengers between 1998 and 2007.
What makes flying safer?
There are a range of factors that make air travel the safe environment it is today, from engineering fixes to improved regulation.
Recent technological advances have greatly improved aviation safety. Aircraft are no longer flown manually with limited navigational equipment; Modern glass cockpits feature the latest technology to reduce human error.
Not long ago, at least three engines were needed to cross the Atlantic due to reliability concerns and ETOPS regulations. In 1980, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator J. Len Helms, telling Boeing engineering director Dick Taylor that “it would be a cold day in hell before I let the twins fly long distances over water routes,” but only eight years later, the duration of ETOPS was doubled from 90 minutes to 180, making It signals a major shift in the industry. Recent advances in engine technology have seen the introduction of up to ETOPS-370 aircraft for the Airbus A350XWB, with several other twin-engine widebodies having ETOPS-330 capabilities.
Photo: Fasttailwind | Stock struggle
On the ground, the flight crew, air traffic controllers and dispatchers work together to ensure a safe flight, and any changes to the plan are checked by all parties to avoid mistakes.
When you’re in the air, you can be confident that you’re flying with certified, highly trained personnel. In the United States, pilots are required to have at least 1,500 flight hours before they can work on a commercial aircraft, the equivalent of nine consecutive weeks in the sky. Cabin crew are also vital to aircraft safety, with large parts of current training programs related to keeping passengers safe on board and reducing risks during accidents.
The role of regulation and industrial pressure
However, many of these developments can be attributed to improvements in regulation. Everyone, from aircraft manufacturer board members to part-time ground staff at airlines, must adhere to strict government oversight. These regulations range from something as simple as reducing work hours to reduce fatigue to ensuring aircraft parts are made of high-quality certified materials.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Stock struggle
Rigorous requirements for maintenance, reporting, training and operations can extend far beyond the country in which they are implemented. Flight and airline bans, such as the European Union’s air safety list, have prompted governments to formulate their own measures to ensure the continuation of international operations and encourage tourism.
Notable recent graduates on the Air Safety List include Indonesia. Following two fatal crashes in early 2007 and a historically poor aviation safety record, all Indonesian airlines have been banned from entering European Union airspace. Incremental developments by individual airlines led to some airlines being slowly removed from the list before the ban was fully lifted in 2018 amid consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
In a statement issued by the Government of Indonesia, European Union Ambassador Yuri O. Tharmin noted the significant investment the country has made in improving the aviation industry and complying with global regulations. Tharmin added,
“Lifting the flight ban for all Indonesian airlines is a form of EU recognition to the Indonesian government for improving air safety in the country.”
What are your thoughts on recent developments in aviation safety? Let us know in the comments.
