CNN
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The crash landing of the Delta Airline Flight 4819 in Toronto is some of the most frightening videos I've ever seen. Thankfully there were no deaths, but such videos are a nightmare made.
Monday's crash landing doesn't feel like an isolated incident, especially after last month's collision with an American Airlines plane and a US helicopter that left 67 people dead. It feels like the sky is becoming more dangerous.
But sometimes emotions can be deceived. Statistics suggest that the sky is as friendly as ever.
Check out the preliminary data for January for the National Transportation Safety Board.
Last month, when flights from commercial and commercial airlines combined, it appears that the number of plane accidents across the country is low. Most of the 62 total plane crashes were private flights, with a total of less than 80 recorded in January 2024.
In fact, if the preliminary figures are kept, January 2025 will surpass previous records as the total number of accidents is eight less than the previous record low of 70 from January 2012.
Unfortunately, the 10 accidents in January 2025 were fatal, and one of those fatal incidents involved commercial airliner. Obviously, any number above zero is too many, but historically speaking, 10 is an incredibly small number overall.
And the number of fatal accidents nationwide last month could tie with 2022 for the safest January on record.
The January 2025 safety records are also not statistical abnormalities. I previously pointed out that commercial aviation in the United States is more secure than ever. Over the past 15 years, there have been fewer scheduled commercial airliner deaths than any other 15-year stretch. And, at this point, it has become a mantra among the aviation industry, but a mile travelling commercial airliner is much safer than a car.
Certainly, the trendline is roughly the same when combining civilian air forces with commercial air travel. Last year there were fewer accidents, and fewer fatal accidents than the previous year. This is also a long-term trend, with fewer accidents recorded in each of the last 12 years, less than at least date back to 1982.
In the 2020s, there was only three years of fatal accidents with less than 300. This is a dramatic improvement from historical records, as there were over 600 fatal accidents in 1982 and 1983.
Of course, what stands out about the crash in January and Toronto is that they involved commercial airliners. Most of the collisions are private, small planes, so they are not much coverage.
Getting on a small private plane is significantly less safe.
But as my colleague Chris Isidor pointed out to me, one or two horrifying incidents talk less about the wider industry than you believe. If there are around 9 million commercial flights operated by US airlines each year, one or two extra accidents per year are not statistically significant.
But even near misses aren't as often as you might think. It can be reminiscent of two years ago when I had a freakout in a near miss.
In 2023, 23 runway invasions (i.e. something happened when it wasn't supposed to be on the runway) were labelled as serious cases. That has been the case at any other point in the last decade.
Few people may be talking about runway invasions in 2024. The reason was simple. In 2024, the number of serious runway invasions fell to just seven. The previous 10 years.
Only two of the most serious types of near misses that have been avoided slightly occurred in 2024.
So, where does this leave us? The mode of transport is 100% unsafe. We need to remain vigilant that air travel is as safe as possible. What happened last month was scary and in some cases tragic.
Still, to put it all together, air travel is one of the safest ways to do it. The numbers show that no matter how they crack, they are safer in recent years.
