The Numbers

Each day, thousands of people climb into their personal cars, destined to get to their destination as fast as possible. This need to get their faster causes accidents. Its a simple fact, more car crashes occur than airplane crashes. Now granted, there are far more "qualified" drivers than there are pilots, but the facts are there. The numbers don't lie. Your far more likely to get in a car accident than an airplane crash. The links below provide a little information into the numbers. For every 11 min and 47 seconds you spend driving at 55 miles per hour, its equal to one airline flight in terms of danger. That means that statistically, you spend more time at risk in a car than you do on your airline trip across the globe. Your fare more likely to get in an incident turning down Grandma's street heading to Christmas dinner, than taking your long awaited vacation to Australia.  

Your speed is also much slower in a car, yet the risk is higher. The faster you go in a car, the greater the danger of a serious accident. Airliners commonly fly at over 300 kts, while most speed limits are not any higher than 70 mph on the interstate.

Based on data from a study done by Sivak and Flannagan,  published in American Scientist , over "95% of accidents  occur during takeoff and landing, risk of flying depends almost entirely on the number of flights involved in the trip. The length of the trip is not significant; a long flight has pretty much the same risk as a short flight. But with a car, the risk of fatality depends upon how many miles are driven." In short, the longer you drive, the greater your risk in a car. Opposite, the longer you fly, your danger does not increase. The greatest danger is during takeoff and landing. Its pretty hard to hit something flying through the air... The main dangers in the air are bird strikes, or engine failures, both of which are recoverable due to much training received by the pilots prior to even getting their license to be able to fly the airplane your on. 

1.Sivak and Flannagan. "Flying versus Driving." American Scientist. June 2003. 29 Sept. 2011. <http://www.fearofflying.com/about/research.shtml>
The article provided by American Scientist proved helpful by providing information on statistics to include in my blog posting. The statistic that 11 min and 47 seconds of driving is equal to one airplane trip proved my point that it is more dangerous on the ground on your drive to work every day than it is as your flying across the Atlantic Ocean over to Europe. The article also provided insight as to where most airplane crashes occur; on the way to the ground. This allowed me to provide a comparison on objects in the air, versus objects on the ground that pose a threat to safety.

American Scientist seems to be spot on in their observations. I tend to agree with most of the points they provided. Being a pilot, it makes sense to me that the most dangerous part is the takeoff and landing. It is the point where your closest to the ground, and where a small mistake could cost you a change at a good landing or cost you your life. I've personally had times where I came in a little too fast on my landing, made the brakes screech, and could see where you could easily blow a tire if you're not careful. However, that's why pilots receive training on how to handle situations like that. 

2. xlibber and danorth1. AOL Autos. No date. Online image. Flickr. 3 Oct 2011. <http://o.aolcdn.com/os/autos/photos/miscellaneous/20110630_cars-plane_612mz.jpg>

This photograph allowed me to provide a visual representation of what I mean when I talk about how much more of a danger there is on the ground, compared to in the sky. If you look at the picture, the ground side is much more busy. There is a lot more going on than there is of the picture of the airplane. Airplanes commonly have a buffer zone around them, to where nothing else gets in their way. Cars on the other hand, are often close to each other, and only have a few inches of separation from one another.  Based off the image, you can tell how easily you could hit something on the ground compared to in the sky.

When you look into this image, you see the main point that I'm trying to make. It allows for the reader to see what I'm trying to visualize. It lets me, the author, put the reader into my mind and let them see what I already know. This is helpful so that if they have an idea of the main safety problems to start off with in the first post, in later posts if I bring up this points again, they can remember this image. They'll be able to see how cluttered the image is and why there is a greater danger on the ground.  


3. "Cessna Flying," Hampton,VA. Personal Photograph taken by Ricky Matthews. 28 Jan 2010. 
<https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/21977_1357508257685_1230862446_1055649_437962_n.jpg>

This image is a personal image I took while I was flying over Hampton Roads, Virginia right over the James River near Hampton. Based off this image, you can see there are no objects to watch out for. There is nothing that I could hit, except for maybe a bird, flying along. Hitting something while in mid-air is the last thought on my mind as a pilot when I am flying along. I am more worried about nailing the landing, not up at altitude of a few thousand feet above the surface of the earth cruising at a 100 kts.

Based off the objects in the image, I can later use it to relate to the points of the safety of airplanes and what the cockpit looks like. Most people just jump on the plane, sit down, and then take a nap, never knowing what safety features are installed to ensure they have a safe flight. Millions of dollars of money has been spent on improving an already safe system and those improvements will just continue in the future as new technology is rolled out and air travel continues to be the safest way to travel for many folks around the world.