The old adage about flying being infinitely safer than driving is a flat-out fact. In 2010, the last year for which year-end figures are available, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 32,788 fatalities on U.S. roads. At a clip of 1.09 deaths per 100 million miles of vehicle travel, it was the lowest rate ever recorded. Extraordinary news.
But no one died as a result of a commercial airline crash in this country in 2010, and none in 2011. You have to go back to a cold, wintry day in February 2009 when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed on approach to Buffalo. Fifty people perished.
It’s from the ashes of such accidents that safer skies arise. Consider: while the National Transportation Safety Board did not name pilot fatigue as a contributing factor in the crash, it did recommend FAA and the airlines “address fatigue risks associated with [pilot] commuting…using scheduling practices to minimize opportunities for fatigue in commuting practices.”
To that end, FAA has issued new rules governing just how much rest pilots have to get before taking into their hands the lives of all those fliers they’re entrusted to protect.
In a sweeping set of regulations designed to render pilots sharper and more alert while in the cockpit FAA regs will:
- Mandate pilots have to be allowed at least 10 hours of rest each day. It used to be eight hours.
- Try to make sure pilots actually get a legitimate chance for decent shut-eye, the new rule says they “must have an opportunity for eight hours uninterrupted sleep within the 10-hour rest period.”
- Cap the amount of time a pilot can actually be at the controls up in the cockpit at eight hours or nine hours. The specific cap is pegged to the time of day.
- Mandate that pilots be allowed at least 30 consecutive hours each week off duty. The old number was 24.
- Attempt to cut cumulative fatigue by “placing weekly and 28-day limits on the amount of time a pilot may be assigned to any type of flight duty.”
The respected Flight Safety Foundation calls them “an enormous step forward in safety management…a good first step.”
The government has taken lots of steps over the years to make flying safer – all of those steps based on hard lessons learned from earlier crashes. Consider:
- Aug. 2, 1985, Delta Air Lines Flight 191 bound from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles by way of Dallas/Fort Worth crashes short of the runway at DFW. 137 die. Wind shear is to blame, a phenomenon that causes airplanes to literally lose lift and fall from the sky. The legacy of the crash: on-board wind shear detection gear, teamed with ground-based Terminal Doppler Radar. The result: there hasn’t been a major wind shear crash in this country since 1994.
- Sept. 2, 1998, Swissair Flight 111 headed from JFK to Geneva crashes at Peggys Cove Nova Scotia. All 229 on board the MD-11 die. On-board electrical fire was the culprit. emanating from the electric. Even though Canada’s Transportation Safety Board investigated the crash, its recommendations resulted in the US Federal Aviation Administration issuing new rules regarding wiring and fire hardening.
- Sept. 8, 1994, US Air Flight 427 crashes near Pittsburgh, and 132 perish as the Boeing 737-300 plummets to earth. In the wake of the crash redesigned rudder systems are retrofitted on the 737 fleet. There hasn’t been a related accident since.
Crashes beget better safety. Critics of this school of hard knocks, lessons-learned system call what results “tombstone regulation.” And so it has largely been. They contend we would be far better if the bureaucracy acted more proactively, short-circuiting problems before they kill. That proactive approach is more prevalent today than ever, but we’ve got a way to go before it’s where it needs to be.
The numbers are unambiguous. Next time you consider packing up the trunk and driving to see family and friends, consider the risk out there on the road. It’s exponentially higher than up in the air. “Flying is safer than driving,” is no cliché. It’s a fact.
Down deep, which do you consider safer – flying or driving? Tell us, and tell us why.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: Neil Armstrong2)
