WATCH ABOVE: Allison Vuchnich looks at some of the rigourous testing airplanes go through to be safe
TORONTO — Aviophobia. It’s the fear of flying. And for those who are afraid to take to the sky, recent events might further strengthen that fear. But statistically, flying is the safest form of mass transportation.
On average about 1.24 million people die in car accidents around the world each year. Comparatively, over the last ten years, the average number of annual fatalities on multi-engine commercial aircraft is 720.
READ MORE: Air Canada flight 624 – Investigators say plane’s low altitude a ‘key’ question in crash probe
And air safety is just getting better: In 2013, the airline industry had its lowest number of fatalities on record, with just 265 — that’s out of 3.1 billion passengers that flew on a commercial flight. Compare that with the worst year, 1972, when there were 2,373 fatalities and just 450 million passengers.
“In the early days of aviation the major source of accidents were mechanical issues with the aircraft itself. The industry has done an amazing job in identifying those accidents and building stronger, safer aircraft. Nowadays the rates of accidents caused by the aircraft are very, very low,” said Suzanne Kearns, an aviation professor at Western University in London, Ontario.
Safety is improving because aircraft manufacturers don’t leave things to chance. From the drawing board to the first commercial flight, years pass. Aircraft are put through rigorous testing that examine every feasible environment or situation in which a plane might be expected to fly, land or take off.
The planes are tested in hot climates, cold climates, at high speed, low speed, high altitude and low altitude. The engines and frames are tested — all to ensure that passengers arrive at their destination safely.
Look at Airbus’s most recent aircraft, the A350.
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Five A350s were put through testing for an entire year before the first one was sold to Qatar Airways.
But that’s not to say that aircraft are tested only once they’re assembled.
A complete aircraft is comprised of many parts built by different manufacturers. In the case of Airbus, Premium Aerotec builds the fuselage and wing components of Airbus’s A320 and A330 family. They also manufacture parts of the new A350XWB and the massive A380 — the largest commercial aircraft in the world.
Meanwhile, the engines are made by Pratt and Whitney. Another company, Safran Messier-Bugatti-Dowty makes the landing gear. Airbus says that more than 2,000 suppliers from more than 20 countries supply various parts, components and hardware for their planes.
READ MORE: Airplanes still one of the safest ways to travel
For Boeing, its newest 787 has parts manufactured by more than 40 suppliers (it, too, has thousands of suppliers, however).
But every manufacturer tests the components over years. And then the airplane itself — the whole of it — endures many other tests.
All of that leads to one of the safest modes of transportation.
Boeing and Airbus, both major airplane manufacturers have a lot riding on the safety of their planes. To lose a plane to a careless accident or malfunction could result in billions of dollars lost in revenue.
In the case of Air Canada flight 624, the design of the Airbus A320 likely saved lives.
“What was notable about that is that everyone got out safely, and the aircraft absorbed the impact,” said Martin Fendt, a spokesperson with Airbus.”And obviously like a car, you’ve got built-in zones that take the impact…in order to take that energy away from the people inside.”
As well, everything worked well on the plane, most importantly the slides.
“In the olden days, they obviously wanted aircraft to be safe as well, but today we’re better at designing planes than we used to be.”
But air safety isn’t just up to the aircraft manufacturers themselves, but the government ensures that planes are air-worthy.
The federal government — through Transport Canada — sets out specific airworthiness directives. Aircraft need to pass a lengthy list of requirements to be able to be approved as a commercial aircraft.
Overall, the statistics of flying are in our favour. Though numbers vary (mostly depending on if you use the top 25 or top 50 or top 75 carriers), your odds of dying in a plane crash range from about 1 in 10 million to 1 in 50 million. Even on the low end, those odds are pretty good.
“A combination of better design capability plus the experience that we’ve gained by learning lessons from the past, all those things put together makes our aviation safer.”
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