Years ago the was some actual danger to flying on an airline, though the U S ones have been pretty safe in modern times.
Today the majors have an almost perfect safety record in the U S, for the last few years there has not been a single fatality on a U S major in this country, which is an astounding record given how many people fly and how complex planes are. Things like battery fires can happen, but hasnt resulted in an accident in recent years. Compared to airlines, our private gen aviation is not as safe and there are a lot of car and truck accidents, of course many more people drive than fly. Even train travel is not as safe as airlines.
So if you want to go somewhere safely, and especially if if is a long trip where jet speed is a big factor, airlines have their place. And they can travel safely in most weather when it is difficult for our type of pilots and airplanes.
The other side of airline travel is the complex computer controls they use which can and do delay flights like the recent problems at Southwest and Delta. I once sat on an airliner which could not take off for a 200 mile, 20 min flight in CAVU since their computer could not dial up the weather. Actually had to wait for an IBM guy to arrive to fix it.
And TSA is a factor, sometimes awful, like the teenage cancer patient injured in Memphis, and sometimes with hour long lines and sometimes only a minor annoyance.
Who would have thought years ago that the actual flying would be safe, but there would be worries about violence at the terminal like L A was or the alert, apparently false , at JFK today.
In the long ago days, the planes sounded better, if noisier and they often had real food and the stewardesses were great.
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Originally Posted by Bill Greenwood
