Airline Travel, Pro and Con

[Bill Greenwood]

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.

[Floatsflyer]

I was not born yet during the glamorous, superior class of service of the golden age of international air travel which was the 30's and 40's. But I wish I had been to experience it. The Pan Am Boeing Clipper flying boats and the Sikorsky S-38, S-40 and S-50's. The superb European lines flying the huge Shorts Brothers flying boats and even the Zeppelins. Now that was exquisite travel, when truly getting there was half the fun. No aluminum tubes allowed.

Today, flying commercially is statistically the safest form of any kind of travel. You know what they say: What's the most dangerous part of flying? ......Driving too and from the airport!

[martymayes]

Not only is airline travel safe, airlines rack up some impressive dispatch reliability numbers. 25,000 domestic flights every day and one computer glitch in 10 yrs that cancels 750 flights is news only because it is a rare occurrence. I had to laugh at the talking heads "I can't believe they allow this to happen!" Wow, the accuracy of their news reporting doesn't come anywhere close to the airline completion factor and they are critcizing? Really. lol

[martymayes]

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.

Allegedly, when Usain Bolt ran the 100 meter, a number of people started banging on tables, stomping their feet to which someone shouted "gunfire" and the rest is history, lol

[Bill Greenwood]

Marty, don't think the Delta computer glitch was the only one in 10 years, pretty sure I recall others.

Anyway, is your story about the banging on the tables at JFK just a joke or was that what really happened to set off such a panic? These days it could be!

[martymayes]

Anyway, is your story about the banging on the tables at JFK just a joke or was that what really happened to set off such a panic? These days it could be!
It's been unofficially confirmed. This was a failure of massive proportions...

http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2016-08-15/2-terminals-at-jfk-airport-resuming-operations-after-scare

[Mayhemxpc]

Two items: danger in the terminal is not new. I am old enough to remember Europe in the previous terrorist era of the 1970's and early 1980's. German border police patrolled the terminals with machine guns and they were not reluctant to use them. Everyone knew that a shout from a Bundesgrenzschutz patrolman meant that everyone needed to dive to the floor. In the USA we had our own terrorists then (e.g., "the students for a democratic society") but I don't recall them targeting airports.

Second, even more distantly related. Airliners fly when most of us wouldn't dare risk our butts and props up there. Things can get busy and dangerous and it requires everyone to operate as a team. I was coming home from Peoria to Washington DC area this past Sunday evening and the lightning storm was awesome to behold (at a comfortable distance.) Washington center and Potomac Approach were swamped with the evening rush combined with MANY requests for deviation. At one point, a pilot responded to a heading change By calmly announcing to all, "well that is the first time I have ever been vectored INTO weather." After about 15 seconds of silence, Approach apologized and amended his routing.

[martymayes]

Marty, don't think the Delta computer glitch was the only one in 10 years, pretty sure I recall others.

My point was over the past 10 yrs, cancellations due to computer glitches is but a fraction of 1%.

[martymayes]

coming home from Peoria to Washington DC area this past Sunday evening and the lightning storm was awesome to behold (at a comfortable distance.) Washington center and Potomac Approach were swamped with the evening rush combined with MANY requests for deviation. At one point, a pilot responded to a heading change By calmly announcing to all, "well that is the first time I have ever been vectored INTO weather." After about 15 seconds of silence, Approach apologized and amended his routing.

One can experience a wide variety of atmospheric phenomena when flying a plane but TRW ranks right up there at the top. They are really cool!

You might recognize the location - just a few miles N. of IAD.

[L16 Pilot]

I was only nine years old but I remember this one quite well.

http://archive.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/32563159.html

[Bob H]

When I worked for Douglas Aircraft in 1960s-1980s, the jet airliners were warranted for 60,000 hrs before any major structural problems would happen. That's eqivalent to flying 10 hrs/day, 6 days/week, every week for 20 yrs. Warranties might be higher today and even more on composite transports that don't have fatigue issues.
I mostly worked on R&D projects applying composite structures to the DC-10 and before we would place a new part on the plane, we sat in a conference room reviewing all the analysis and test data. The final question always was- "Would you put your wife and kids on a plane with this new structure?" If someone had valid reservations, the part would not fly until all doubts were answered. A great deal of consious thought went into design and verification of transport aircraft and we all took this personal responsibility very seriously.

[L16 Pilot]

Obviously flying directly into the thunderstorm cell was probably a contributing factor in addition to the stress failure.