Airliners From Least To Most Safe Statistically

 

19. The early 737-200 with JT8D turbo-jet engines. These engines were turbo-jet engines, not turbo-fan engines as all jet airliners built since are equipped with, which produce far more power. Approximately one crash per 500,000 hours of flying. First built in 1967. Number still flying: 517. The 737-100s, also first built in 1967, have been retired from service.

 

18. The Ilyushin IL-76. This Russian airliner was originally developed for the Soviet Air Force. One crash per 560,000 hours of flying. Built starting in 1974. Number still flying: 247.

 

17. The Tupelov Tu-154. Another Russian-built airliner, but one designed originally for airline, rather than military, use. With one crash per million hours of flying, we have a big jump in safety versus number 9. First built in 1971. Number still flying: 236.

 

16. The Airbus 310. First built in 1983 by Airbus. Yet with no better safety than the Russian-built Tupelov designed a dozen years earlier, with one crash per million hours. Number still flying: 191.

 

15. The Douglas DC-9, An American-built plane, and still another plane tied with the Tu-154 and Airbus 310 in terms of safety. First built in 1965. Number still flying: 315. Still being flown by Delta Airlines.

 

14. The Tupolev Tu-134. In a four-way tie with some of those above, with one crash per million hours of flying. First built in 1964. Number still flying: 233.

 

13. The Boeing 727. Though first built in 1963, here we have a quantum leap in safety. Twice as safe as those in the four-way tie - and four times safer than the early 737- the Boeing 727 is good for two-million hours of flying per accident! Number still flying (outside the U.S.): 412.

 

12. The McDonald-Douglas MD-80. In a virtual tie with the Boeing 727, the MD-80 has produced 2.3 million hours per accident. It is still being flown by Delta and American. This plane was first built in 1980. Number still flying: 923.

 

11. The  McDonald-Douglas DC-10. First built in 1971, the DC-10 was the McDonald-Douglas answer to Boeing's 747. Originally, McDonald-Douglas decided to pass on building a jumbo jet, and promoted a stretched version of their DC-8. But when orders for the 747 took off, McDonald-Douglas played catch-up, rushed the DC-10 into production. As a result, there were some spectacular crashes due to design problems, which gave the plane a bad reputation. But once the original design problems were fixed, the DC-10 flew with exceptional safety. Number still flying: 153.

 

With an overall record of one accident in three-million hours of flying, the DC-10 has had not had an accident in the past twenty years, except in developing countries.

 

10. The McDonald-Douglas MD-11. As testimony to the DC-10, this 1990 upgrade has posted 3.7 million hours per accident and none in the past ten years. Number still flying: 187.

 

9. The Boeing 737 CFMI to designate the second generation 737s first built in 11984 with the CFMI engine. We are talking serious safety with five million hours of flying per accident. Number still flying: 1,796.

 

What does one accident in five million hours mean? Well, at five-hundred miles per hour, that means 2,500,000,000 miles. If you trade in your car every 100,000 miles, that means the number of miles you would rack up with 25,000 cars! As impressed as you are with your ability to drive, how confident would you be of going through 25,000 cars without an accident?

 

8. The Airbus 330. When you go to this page, it will show the A-330 is the safest plane in the sky with twelve-million hours and no accidents. But now it is twelve-million hours and one accident. That puts the A-330 in the number eight position. First built in 1993. Number still flying: 577.

7. The Boeing 757. Were you impressed with the record of the 737 CFMI at one accident in five-million flight hours? Hold on to your hat! The 757 is double that. In fact, it is almost triple that with one accident in about fourteen-million hours of flying. First in service in 1982, this is what I call a third-generation airliner. It has the benefits of computerization of navigation and monitoring of the various systems on the plane, so that if the primary system goes out of normal parameters, the plane switches automatically to a standby system. In addition, there is a backup system and an emergency system if needed. This is my favorite plane to fly as a pilot. Flown by American, Delta and United. Number still flying: 973.

 

6. The Airbus 320. In a virtual tie with the Boeing 757, the Airbus 320 has fourteen-million hours per accident. It was first built in 1988. Number still flying 3,604.

 

5. The Boeing 767. Slightly edging out the 757 and the 320, the 767 has fifteen-million hours per accident. It was, like the 757, first built in 1982 and has engineering so similar to the 757 that pilots who are qualified on one are qualified on the other. Number still flying: 867.

 

4. The Boeing 737 NG meaning "next generation" to designate the models built starting in 1997. Sixteen-million hours per accident. Number still flying: 2,583

 

3. The Boeing 747. When Boeing first considered building a plane that would carry 500 passengers, the board of directors was skeptical. People had gotten used to hearing of an air crash with one-hundred or so fatalities. So, the thinking was, if Boeing invested all its resources in a 500-passenger plane a crash could so traumatize the public that passengers would refuse to fly it. "No problem," the engineers said, "We are going to build an uncrashable airplane." And they almost did. The record shows about seventeen-million hours per accident, but two of those had nothing to do with the quality of the plane: the collision of two 747s on the runway in the Canary Islands. Due to misunderstanding communications from the tower, a KLM 747 took off when not cleared for takeoff, striking a Pan Am 747, destroying both planes. The crew of the Pan Am crew escaped. The copilot, Bob Bragg, and I spent several hours talking about his experience. Patrick Smith interviewed Bob and wrote a column in Salon which you can find at this link.  Number still flying: 935.

 

2. The Boeing 777. At one accident per eighteen-million hours of flying, the Triple-Seven is number two in safety. And, in that one accident, everyone survived.

 

1. The Airbus 340, with approximately the same number of flying hours remains accident-free, making it number one is safety.

 

==========

 

Typical Summer Forecast

 

Clients call concerned because thunderstorms are in the forecast. They noticed the forecast because of their flight. If they had been in the habit of checking the forecast, they would find that in the summer thunderstorms are forecast almost every day. It's just a typical forecast. Here's an email that points out that the typical forecast isn't something you need to worry about. 

 

Dear Capt Tom.

 

I want to let you know I took a flight last Wednesday to Salt Lake City which had thunderstorms forecasted and a return flight the next night(thunderstorms that day, too) to San Jose. These were the best flights I've had in a long time.

 

Usually if I saw thunder in a forecast I'd be irritable and stressed to the point my wife would avoid me. I still had anxiety and fear but was so much more attuned to my own movie then before. I stayed in the now and countered my tension by not allowing myself to react to unexpected bumps. I'd tense up but recognize the bump for what it was, not what it might be. I need to finish all the videos but I'm very optimistic I'm on the right track. -

 

==========

 

An Email From Peru

 

I never had a chance to write a testimony, but your course helped me a lot.  . . .  I am now a happy flyer. I look forward to trips, take along the family, and enjoy. Before that, I remember leaving a file at my home desk with instructions in case I died!

 

You know, some kind of brain re-wiring takes place with this cognitive approach you use. I know this because now, when I WANT to experience anticipatory anxiety, I can´t. I try to feel it but I can´t. I may get a bit nervous or uncomfortable in heavy turbulence, but I am now sort of immune to anticipatory anxiety. How could this happen? A re-wiring of my brain I suppose.

 

Anyhow, this Airbus accident touches me no more than news from an earthquake in a distant location (I live in Lima, a very seismic region): I feel sad and compassionate, but no more afraid of quakes than before. In fact I am going to London for a holiday trip in three weeks with wife and two kinds.

 

Still, I believe I would like to know what happened here because it is just so improbable for this to occur.

 

Regards and thank you!!

 

Posted On the Message Board

 

When I find things like this on the message board, it makes everything worthwhile. It is titled: 12 Flights In Two Months Or How SOAR Changed My Life. You can read it at this link.

 

Just come back from a 12+ hour flight taking me from Cologne, Germany to Shanghai, China with a stop over at Munich, Germany. Am adjusting to the local time (+7 hours difference) loosing necessary sleep. Time thus to write on this board (what I should be doing more).



It has been almost 5 years since my first panic attack on a plane -passed out again and again- and about 2.5 years since SOAR. What a difference it makes!



Life was soooooooooo enjoyable till December 2004... For about 15 years I would be traveling the globe until it hit me! December 2004, right before the Asian tsunami, I got a severe panic attack on a routine flight from Phuket to Bangkok, Thailand. Having to take a connecting flight to Vienna, Austria followed by a Vienna - Cologne, Germany flight seemed impossible. I took medicine, and gulped down couple of whiskeys in Bangkok to make myself believe to be able to continue (were it not for my spouse to take control).



How it all changed since SOAR...



I just went online to check my mileage status and realize having flown 12 flights in 30 days. Part business, part private. Part fearless, part anxious. Part known, branded planes, part small planes. Lots of turbulence, no turbulence. Jet engined planes, propellor driven aircraft. Nice people seated next to me, #$% people next to me. Male captain, female captain. Good sleep, no sleep. Delays, no delays.



The small lessons I learned:

1. Life is not black and white.

2. Bridges, tunnels, elevators, heights, planes... You can overcome your fears. I did.

3. It is OK to show vulnerability. You will be surprised to the reaction of any flight crew when showing your fears if you never did before. Those people should be awarded a medallion!

4. You are not alone in your fears. The decision to change your attitude/take control over it is yours however, only yours, not theirs.

5. Details are important.

6. Your worry doesn't contribute one single bit to the outcome of a flight (or anything else in life for that matter).

7. It is OK to feel bad for a while as long as you keep on living.

8. It is OK to trust other people. (Would you be better yourself at the task at hand?)

9. Your kids need the truth, not pretention.

10. You can/will never receive a SOAR (or life) graduation certificate, as life evolves around us. Circumstances change. You either accept and live as to the full as possible, or you give up. The choice is yours!

 

 

==========