The majority of the people who step onto a commercial airliner have no knowledge of how it can fly. Naturally their greatest concern (especially for the fearful flyer) is "what if something goes wrong and we are 10 000 meters off the ground?"

1. Statistical facts

Aircraft manufacturers have to comply with the safety statistics requirement requested by international organisations. In a modern aircraft, the probability of a catastrophic scenario (the kind of scenario leading to a crash) shall not exceed 1 in 1 billion per flight hour. No more than 100 scenarios of this kind are allowed on an aircraft type. Moreover, a single failure must not lead to a catastrophic scenario. If an aircraft does not comply with these rates, it will not be certified: it means that it can not perform commercial flight.

Considering that the average flight time is 5 hours, your chances of being involved in an aircraft accident during a flight are about 1 in 2 million.

2. Plane or car?

In 10 years (between January 1995 and December 2004), 5612 people were killed in 376 commercial aircraft accidents. This is about 560 people killed in 38 accidents per year.

In France, more than 5000 people are killed in car accidents each year. Of course, each day, more people get in a car than in an aircraft. Nevertheless, the fact is that you are at far greater risk driving to the airport than getting on an airplane. But the perception is that you have more control over your fate when you are in your car than as an aircraft passenger.

3. The media contribute to the fear 

Media coverage would suggest that aircraft accidents happen daily. Yet stories of aircraft accidents are between 150 to 200 times more likely to receive front-page coverage than other more common causes of death. Consequently, fearful flyers develop a negative bias toward flying. Their fears become validated by the continual bombardment of information related to airline safety following an accident.