2024 was a deadly year for air travel, but flying is still the safest form of transport

2024 has fanned the flames of worries over flying, notably in latest weeks, when greater than 200 individuals misplaced their lives in two separate incidents simply days aside.

Thirty-eight individuals died when an Azerbaijan Airways aircraft crashed in Kazakhstan; 4 days later, 179 perished when a Jeju Air flight crash landed in South Korea.

Whereas latest occasions are nonetheless ringing within the minds of many, 2024 was a yr of disasters in aviation. In early January, a fiery crash in Tokyo shocked the world, leaving 5 members of the Japan Coast Guard lifeless, though passengers on the Japan Airways aircraft escaped safely.

Days later, a part of a aircraft fell off when it was departing from Portland, Oregon, leaving a gaping gap within the facet of the fuselage. Once more, all 177 passengers survived the emergency touchdown, however the fallout from the occasion has seen main producer Boeing within the highlight all yr.

Throughout the summer time the tragic lack of a Voepass flight in Brazil claimed the lives of 62 passengers and crew.

On high of this, a number of stories of plane hitting extreme turbulence and injuring individuals, together with one fatality on a Singapore Airways flight, have given travellers trigger to fret about their security.

In line with the Aviation Security Community, a complete of 318 individuals died in plane accidents final yr, making 2024 the deadliest yr in aviation since 2018.

However is flying actually turning into much less protected, and will we be anxious if we’ve received an upcoming journey booked?

Flying is getting safer on a regular basis

Dr Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of Flight Security Basis, a non-profit concerned in all points of aviation security, put issues in perspective for Euronews Journey.

“In all of 2023, there have been zero business jet fatalities,” he says. “By the point 2024 was over, the aviation business had transported 5 billion passengers worldwide. And till simply the previous few days, 2024 was poised to repeat that security document.”

In line with analysis from the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise (MIT), flying is safer right this moment than ever.

Within the 2018-2022 interval, the danger of dying by air journey was calculated to be 1 per each 13.7 million passenger boardings. That’s down from 1 per 7.9 million boardings in 2008-2017 and a serious lower from the 1 per each 350,000 boardings in 1968 to 1977.

Analysis from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Academy has proven that as much as 80 per cent of aviation accidents may be attributed to human error. A mistake on the pilots’ half is assumed to account for 53 per cent of accidents, whereas mechanical failure was thought-about to be at fault in simply 21 per cent of instances.

Airbus studied which a part of the flight was most harmful, and located that takeoff and touchdown have been when accidents have been probably to happen. Each of the 2 December 2024 crashes occurred when touchdown, though different components have been in play.

Within the Jeju Air crash, for instance, there have been stories of an engine being broken after hitting a hen, and the plane, for an as but unknown cause, didn’t have its touchdown gear deployed when it touched down. The investigation can be lengthy and sophisticated, and it’s more likely to be a while earlier than we perceive precisely what occurred.

“This accident concerned a mess of things, from hen strikes to touchdown with out touchdown gear and flaps,” Shahidi provides. “All of this can be completely investigated, contributing components can be decided and steps can be taken to make sure this doesn’t occur once more.”

Jeju Air has been inspecting its fleet of 737 ‘subsequent technology’ (NG) plane, however out of an abundance of warning. Nothing to this point suggests that there’s a extra widespread drawback with the plane kind.

Airways are suggested to keep away from warzones

The Azerbaijan Airways crash was one thing somewhat completely different. Though investigations are ongoing, preliminary assessments recommend the plane could have been hit by Russian air defences, inflicting it to depressurise and lose management.

That evaluation will recall to mind an identical state of affairs from a decade in the past. In July 2014, a Malaysia Airways aircraft was shot down by Russian-backed forces utilizing a surface-to-air missile whereas it was flying over japanese Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 16 crew members died.

The investigation really useful states concerned in armed conflicts shut their airspace, and that operators ought to completely assess threat when routes go over areas of battle.

The European Aviation Security Company (EASA) publishes Battle Zone Info Bulletins to warning air operators about potential security threats.

Nonetheless, as Janet Northcote, spokesperson for EASA, explains to Euronews Journey, “EASA doesn’t shut airspace or have the precise to mandate the avoidance of airspace. However the data supplied right here flows into the person airline’s personal security assessments and creates consciousness of any aviation security risk.”

So why was Azerbaijan Airways flying over a battle zone? Though many Western airways have ceased operations to and over Russian airspace, quite a few Center Jap and Asian airways proceed to function in that space.

Carriers from Turkey, China, the UAE and different nations aren’t avoiding the airspace, regardless of the danger.

“Air journey in recognized battle zones has important threat,” Shaihid says. “Airways should perform threat evaluation for his or her routes to make sure that the dangers are mitigated and take an alternate route.”

Nonetheless, no European airline at present flies to Russia or by its airspace, having heeded the recommendation of EASA and different businesses.

Each air accident makes air journey safer

The small silver lining within the horrible yr aviation has skilled is that each accident serves to make air journey safer sooner or later.

As Simon Calder, journey correspondent for the UK’s Unbiased newspaper wrote in a latest column, “All of the dramatic aviation occasions of 2024 – deadly and in any other case – can be analysed minutely to grasp what may be learnt to boost future security.”

Within the case of each the Jeju Air and Azerbaijan Airways crashes, the notorious ‘black packing containers’ have been recovered and despatched for interrogation.

These two packing containers, which are literally vibrant orange in color, are the Flight Knowledge Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and will shed some gentle on what occurred previous to the crash.

Accident investigators are on the bottom in Kazakhstan and South Korea gathering extra proof, a course of that would take a while. Following this, collected knowledge can be analysed in a lab to find out the reason for the crash.

A preliminary report will probably be made public within the coming weeks, though the ultimate report will take longer.

From these stories, numerous suggestions can be made to keep away from an identical state of affairs sooner or later.

“One of many strengths of aviation security processes is that each time any tragedy does happen, we analyse what occurred and take applicable motion to make sure, to the extent potential, that the identical kind of accident is not going to happen once more,” explains Northcote.

Think about any main aviation accident, and it is potential to see the longer-term constructive impact it has had on air security.

A collision over the Grand Canyon in June 1956, for instance, between a TWA Tremendous Constellation and a United Airways DC-7 led to upgraded types of air visitors management.

After TWA Flight 800 exploded in mid-air in 1996, modifications have been made to make sure gasoline couldn’t be combusted by an errant spark.

With out the tragedy of 9/11, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) would by no means have been created. And due to the (nonetheless) lacking Malaysia Airways MH370, all plane are actually tracked in real-time.

“This fixed cycle of enchancment is prime to retaining the aviation security document sturdy,” says Northcote.

“We work with different regulators, for instance the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the USA and with the Worldwide Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), to make sure that aviation security requirements are excessive globally, not solely in Europe.”

Whereas producers, airways and regulators work arduous to take care of security within the skies, Northcote highlights that protected journey is a crew effort.

“Aviation has generally a wonderful security document, however that is no trigger for complacency,” she says. “This sturdy security document can solely be maintained by many particular person individuals fulfilling their function every single day to make sure that operations are protected.”