Still Safe (Flying in general)

Member Name: Donf18

Product:	Flying in general
Date:	25/09/08 (224 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Statistics don't lie .........do they

Disadvantages: none

A while back my attention was inadvertently drawn to Air safety after witnessing a very near miss at Edinburgh Airport. I had intended only to take a few pictures for a project I was working on, whilst viewing the incoming and outgoing planes I, and a lorry driver who had stopped for a break watched in amazement as an Airliner prepared to land. We were perhaps a hundred or so yards away from the edge of the Airport and the end of the runway. The height of the plane is very hard to assess but suffice to say within 15 seconds it would have undoubtedly touched down on the tarmac. A few seconds later, it had made a dramatic course change and was heading to the skies again. I looked at the lorry driver and he looked at me in astonishment. When we turned to witness the plane soar into the sky we further amazed by another plane hurtling along the same runway and preparing for take off. Had the first plane not started to head for the skies a disaster was a certainty. There was no mention of this in any of the papers and I was left, as probably the lorry driver was wondering whether this was a one off or something that happened on a more frequent basis. It was an extremely frightening thing to have seen. How many similar instances have occurred all over the world, instances we know nothing about.

We are all probably aware that there are many stringent rules and procedures that Airlines must follow, or should I say are supposed to follow. I believe that should these rules and procedures be adhered too then there is no problem with air safety, but it is with the regulation and enforcement of these rules where the main problem occurs. As with most things it all comes down to profit margins, but the expense of paying for checks and counter checks eats into the profit margin, and therefore as such these checks are probably not done as frequent as perhaps they should. Although statistics will tell you that Air travel the safest way to travel the recent spate of accidents does not instil any great confidence in the system, and as for statistics well any near misses such as the one I witnessed will not be included I such figures.

When so many apparently similar instances happen then a flag should be popping up and indicating such that a problem DOES exist and in the interests of public and passenger safety a thorough investigation needs to be in place. I'm not talking about the investigation of any particular incident I'm talking more of a database of incidents, which should be held by and independent body, which can collate and use the information to better the rules and procedures, which they are liable to enforce. Too often the fines for offences do not equate to the tragedy or the actual seriousness of the incident, far too often airlines and other bodies get off far too lightly. We really need to be tougher on them and enforce the regulations to the letter to ensure we can all feel safe using planes as a means of transport.

I wouldn't say that I feel particularly unsafe using this mode of conveyance, but I do have a lot of reservations as to whether all the procedures are carried out before a flight is allowed to even be considered to take off. The pressure planes are under in flight means that it only takes a small fault to escalate things to catastrophic proportions. In order for these procedures to be effective the staff required to carry out the procedures need to be properly trained and probably more importantly properly treated. I don't believe for a second that any intentionally omit things, but as we are all now too aware in this very hurry hurry busy world we live in, stress can build up quickly and mistakes can be made. So the people performing these critical tasks need to be treated as extremely valuable members of the air team.

There is probably a little compromising going on, but I hope and prey that it is not in the safety department, but for all the worry and stress that flying may bring to many it is still a fascinating thing to watch those big metal birds glide majestically into the bright blue sky. And although they do make headlines and sadly sometimes many die the incidents are still in comparison to the quantity of flights very small indeed. Therefore in conclusion I do believe that the recent spate of accidents are unfortunately just that accidents. There will be lessons to be learned from such instances and these in turn will I hope further improve a safety record which statistically is still very good.

Summary: Air travel is stil the safest way to travel although you can be forgiven for having your doubts.