Flying

[Cathar Tours]

Given recent events in the middle east how do people feel about flying? I have a few business trips coming up this year that involves flying and I am a little concerned for my safety.

[PaulT]

you can look on sites such as avherald.com to generally see how few incidents that there are.

The aircraft crews are constantly flying and I am sure that they would not be flying of they felt the risk was high. In addition would companies want their aircraft in the air if there was a risk.

I am sure that behind the scenes security has been ramped up. If you look at number of flight for each passenger death the number is very high. You will have more chance of being killed driving to the airport than by flying.

[Cathar Tours]

Trouble is you never know with these people and already, allegedly, they have referred to the possibility of there being another Lockerbie even referring to it's flight number (290). We trust that our security is tight and that nothing can happen but we are dealing with a totally different mentality here.

[idun]

Wondering if are you worried about crossing the road and driving too, because you have more chance of being killed than flying, doing just those two things.

As far as I am concerned the terrorists should not win, so I simply go about my business and do not give a thought to it, however, if I saw an unattended bag  etc or even someone acting suspiciously, then I would notify the authorities, but I would do that anyway.

Look at that flight that crashed into the Alpes du Sud, just the copilot crashing his plane....... life happens, death happens, just one of those things, have you been worried since then?

[PaulT]

In 2018 there was an air crash that killed 189 people and then in 2019 another crash that killed 157 people.

These were not terror related but due to design faults that seemingly were brushed under the carpet and a 'lets cross our fingers' attitude.

None of this terrorist yet we trust the aircraft manufacturers

Is it harder for terrorists to board planes now?

It would seem that ground targets are favoured - easy to get to and cause mass panic plus the chance of getting away unless you plan on blowing yourself up. Think Manchester bombing and the fun and games in Paris.

But overall think of the percentage of people affected by these and it is very very small - a far greater chance of winning the lottery than being involved in terrorist attacks.

Spreading fear is an excellent and cheap tool. Perhaps we should not assist in this and get on with life - just watch out for the banana skins.

As an afterthought the papers often have a story about someone being killed by a hit and run driver. Multiply that up by the countries in the world, some of them with very bad driver standards and how many people are killed per year this way......compare that with the worst year for air passenger deaths by terrorist activity and how do you think they will compare.

[Mac]

I think you weigh up the risks and make your own decisions. We want to fly to Cyprus to see our daughter there. The best flights from Bordeaux-both in terms of time and cost ( do you know some flights from B to Cyprus take over 20 hours with stopovers in some very strange places!!) were with El Al with a change at Tel Aviv. We took the decision-maybe right ,maybe wrong-that with the present tensions in the ME those flights weren't for us. Instead for £100 more we're flying back to the UK and then on to Cyprus

[Cathar Tours]

Lets hope we can discover what happened to this aircraft in Iran. It was not old and the Iranians won't let Boing or anyone else see the black box. So was it shot down, did it fail or what. Even the US have "accidently" shot down airliners in the past. I figure it's like driving. You can be the best in the world but it' the worst one that actually kills you.

Having flown on El Al twice now I can tell you that they have by far the best security. El Al are the only airline that since early 2000 has anti missile systems installed in it's aircraft. I think I would feel safer flying with them than anyone else.

$17,000 gets you "Miniture Hit-To-Kill" ground to air missile and that's what I would be most worried about.

It's a personal thing I guess, it's just there are some incredibly stupid people about.

[nomoss]

This article mentions that you are nineteen times more likely to die in a car than in a plane.

https://anxieties.com/flying-howsafe.php

However, I think I can considerably increase my chances of survival on the road, by avoiding risks under my control, whereas I have no control over my chances in a plane.

I reckon I have had my quota of good luck regarding near misses when flying, so I have eliminated the risk of being killed by a plane by no longer getting on one - unless my car gets hit by one [:(]

[BritinBretagne]

[quote user="Mac"]I think you weigh up the risks and make your own decisions. We want to fly to Cyprus to see our daughter there. The best flights from Bordeaux-both in terms of time and cost ( do you know some flights from B to Cyprus take over 20 hours with stopovers in some very strange places!!) were with El Al with a change at Tel Aviv. We took the decision-maybe right ,maybe wrong-that with the present tensions in the ME those flights weren't for us. Instead for £100 more we're flying back to the UK and then on to Cyprus[/quote]

Don’t forget you will be flying into an island that the RAF use like an aircraft carrier stationed close to the Middle East hotspots. If you really thought that flying was inherently unsafe in times of ME/western tension you wouldn’t be going anywhere near there anyway.