Which is the safer airline to take?
Amongst so many, this one is the dumbest of questions an airline passenger can ask. Debatable? Well, let’s just go on and talk about this in more detail. And hey Jose, this is also my final take on your question!
Needless to say, you can’t find a definitive answer in this article – for indeed you should not find a direct definitive answer anywhere else! If ever you do, whoever is telling you that, he must be dumber than that silly question!
“But I want to know!” Okay, that’s fair enough and you deserve to know – so go study every detail about every aircraft of every airline. I can assure you, by the time you think you have an answer, traveling via this mode of transport may already be long obsolete or gone hehehe! If you are concerned about your safety, there are other better questions to ask. But first...
Why that question is wrong
Who are you asking anyway? Are you asking a friend? How does he know? Does he do the D-Checks, A-Checks or S-Checks? What are (or what will be) his basis to answer that question? Is he a safety analyst or investigator having pored through every detail of every aircraft in every airline? What will be his proof? Hearsay? There you go! So when your friend does answer that question directly, it will be full of biases and inaccuracies, and you’ll realize you should never have asked that question, ever.
“But he works for an airline!” So? Does he work for all airlines? Go ask a Jollibee employee on what he thinks about the Big Mac! Gosh!
Okay, so what/how should I ask?
Now we’re talking! If “safety” is your concern, the better approach is to know how airlines get to have airplanes and how they are allowed to fly those, and on what conditions. When you have enough of the needed information, you will indeed laugh at yourself for having ever asked that silly question!
By the way, before we get to the “better questions”, be very precise when you say “safety” because it can encompass a broad range of related and unrelated events towards your flight and even the landing. Example: What if I tell you that the safest way to go to Boracay is via XXX Airline because they have big planes while YYY Airline has smaller planes. Then on your flight day, a stormy one, XXX Airline pushes with their flights while YYY Airline cancels their flights. Which is safer now, the one with big planes that flies out on a stormy day or the one that doesn’t because they have smaller planes? Aber? Does XXX airline actually exactly know what that stormy weather would do with the plane up there?
We cannot possibly list all the questions to ask since it differs in many situations. Anyway, to avoid asking that dumb question, let’s go through some of the more sensible and general types.
Let’s begin…
Is this a passenger airline? If your answer is yes, then you should know that it is fully accredited by the government and properly recognized by local and international regulating bodies or organizations. That means its methods and standards of safety both on ground and in the air have been tested and approved worthy to fly passengers and in their planes.
The end… PERIOD! You found your safest airline. And no I am not joking!
If you haven’t got the drift of all this, what am trying to say is look elsewhere than just “the safest airline”. There are other better things to consider than just answering the silly question. Foremost would be “is the government very strict in policing the way these airliners do what they’re supposed to do?” If your answer is no (and you have proof), then do not even consider flying. In fact, even so, you might want to note that there are hundreds of flights taking off to the skies everyday. They may not have been safe per your standards but they sure did the runs without a hitch! Then there is also the weather factor. When are you going to that place? Would your flight be generally safer during that time of year? If you answer is no, consider another date – not another airline.
After those serious questions in the previous paragraph, you can start to loosen up and start playing numbers. Its playing with your life actually hehe! It will be difficult for any outsider to go and see how airline people do their safety checks and safety habits. You cannot also possibly go on checking the minds of their pilots and control who will be flying the plane on your assigned date nor control the mental preparedness of the pilot assigned. That is why you go through the numbers – if you don’t want to yet to drop your case of looking for a “safest airline”.
What are the chances that I will safely arrive flying this airline on this particular day? To answer that, you do not just simply count the number of incidents/accidents the airline had versus another. Statisticians use a complex formula to compute that. And it includes how long the airline had been flying, how many passengers they have already carried, how many fatal and what type of accidents have occurred, how long had the flight been during an accident and so many other things. Now, go burn your brows researching and playing with the numbers!
May I share with you one final thought to ponder about: not all “new planes” are really new. An airline may say its new because they bought it just recently because they’re an airline founded just a few monsoons ago. But do you know how old that plane may have been sitting at a hangar of the maker or the lessor before it was bought by your new airline? Want more? Engines and planes do not necessarily go together as a combo meal. You may have a new fuselage with a fairly used engine or the other way around.
And you may already know that the odds of being in killed in a passenger airline flight are 1 in 10.46 million. And if that happens to you, lucky you, you stand out!
Finally, why ask that question anyway when your destination is Tuguegarao? As if you have a lot of choices!
So, have a SAFE flight?! Hala ka! Lagot!
Needless to say, you can’t find a definitive answer in this article – for indeed you should not find a direct definitive answer anywhere else! If ever you do, whoever is telling you that, he must be dumber than that silly question!
“But I want to know!” Okay, that’s fair enough and you deserve to know – so go study every detail about every aircraft of every airline. I can assure you, by the time you think you have an answer, traveling via this mode of transport may already be long obsolete or gone hehehe! If you are concerned about your safety, there are other better questions to ask. But first...
Why that question is wrong
Who are you asking anyway? Are you asking a friend? How does he know? Does he do the D-Checks, A-Checks or S-Checks? What are (or what will be) his basis to answer that question? Is he a safety analyst or investigator having pored through every detail of every aircraft in every airline? What will be his proof? Hearsay? There you go! So when your friend does answer that question directly, it will be full of biases and inaccuracies, and you’ll realize you should never have asked that question, ever.
“But he works for an airline!” So? Does he work for all airlines? Go ask a Jollibee employee on what he thinks about the Big Mac! Gosh!
Okay, so what/how should I ask?
Now we’re talking! If “safety” is your concern, the better approach is to know how airlines get to have airplanes and how they are allowed to fly those, and on what conditions. When you have enough of the needed information, you will indeed laugh at yourself for having ever asked that silly question!
By the way, before we get to the “better questions”, be very precise when you say “safety” because it can encompass a broad range of related and unrelated events towards your flight and even the landing. Example: What if I tell you that the safest way to go to Boracay is via XXX Airline because they have big planes while YYY Airline has smaller planes. Then on your flight day, a stormy one, XXX Airline pushes with their flights while YYY Airline cancels their flights. Which is safer now, the one with big planes that flies out on a stormy day or the one that doesn’t because they have smaller planes? Aber? Does XXX airline actually exactly know what that stormy weather would do with the plane up there?
We cannot possibly list all the questions to ask since it differs in many situations. Anyway, to avoid asking that dumb question, let’s go through some of the more sensible and general types.
Let’s begin…
Is this a passenger airline? If your answer is yes, then you should know that it is fully accredited by the government and properly recognized by local and international regulating bodies or organizations. That means its methods and standards of safety both on ground and in the air have been tested and approved worthy to fly passengers and in their planes.
The end… PERIOD! You found your safest airline. And no I am not joking!
If you haven’t got the drift of all this, what am trying to say is look elsewhere than just “the safest airline”. There are other better things to consider than just answering the silly question. Foremost would be “is the government very strict in policing the way these airliners do what they’re supposed to do?” If your answer is no (and you have proof), then do not even consider flying. In fact, even so, you might want to note that there are hundreds of flights taking off to the skies everyday. They may not have been safe per your standards but they sure did the runs without a hitch! Then there is also the weather factor. When are you going to that place? Would your flight be generally safer during that time of year? If you answer is no, consider another date – not another airline.
After those serious questions in the previous paragraph, you can start to loosen up and start playing numbers. Its playing with your life actually hehe! It will be difficult for any outsider to go and see how airline people do their safety checks and safety habits. You cannot also possibly go on checking the minds of their pilots and control who will be flying the plane on your assigned date nor control the mental preparedness of the pilot assigned. That is why you go through the numbers – if you don’t want to yet to drop your case of looking for a “safest airline”.
What are the chances that I will safely arrive flying this airline on this particular day? To answer that, you do not just simply count the number of incidents/accidents the airline had versus another. Statisticians use a complex formula to compute that. And it includes how long the airline had been flying, how many passengers they have already carried, how many fatal and what type of accidents have occurred, how long had the flight been during an accident and so many other things. Now, go burn your brows researching and playing with the numbers!
May I share with you one final thought to ponder about: not all “new planes” are really new. An airline may say its new because they bought it just recently because they’re an airline founded just a few monsoons ago. But do you know how old that plane may have been sitting at a hangar of the maker or the lessor before it was bought by your new airline? Want more? Engines and planes do not necessarily go together as a combo meal. You may have a new fuselage with a fairly used engine or the other way around.
And you may already know that the odds of being in killed in a passenger airline flight are 1 in 10.46 million. And if that happens to you, lucky you, you stand out!
Finally, why ask that question anyway when your destination is Tuguegarao? As if you have a lot of choices!
So, have a SAFE flight?! Hala ka! Lagot!
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