10 Airline Safety Facts - WMNews Ep. 21
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VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
Script written by Angela Fafard
The 2015 crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 raised many serious questions about the current state of the airline industry. Welcome to WatchMojo News, the weekly series from http://www.WatchMojo.com that breaks down news stories that might be on your radar. In this instalment, we're counting down 10 crucial airplane crash facts.
The 2015 crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 raised many serious questions about the current state of the airline industry. Welcome to WatchMojo News, the weekly series from http://www.WatchMojo.com that breaks down news stories that might be on your radar. In this instalment, we're counting down 10 crucial airplane crash facts.
Script written by Angela Fafard
#10: How Has the Airline Industry Evolved?
Founded in 1909 in Frankfurt, Germany as a spinoff of Zeppelin airships, DELAG was the world’s first airline to use aircraft as a revenue-generating passenger service. The first commercial flight took off in 1910, with many of the airline’s early flights serving as sightseeing tours. In the United States, the government did not regulate aviation for the first decade or so, following many accidents and due to fears of air transportation. As such, the first American aviation regulations were put in place only in the 1920s, and of particular note is the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which required pilots and aircrafts to be adequately licensed and examined, and for aviation accidents to be investigated. Thanks to the creation of other aviation agencies and organizations around the world, flying has since become safer due to better aircraft design, the institution of safety regulations and protocols, as well as advanced engineering.
#9: How Profitable Is the Industry?
Previously known as a continual money loser, at least during the early 21st century, the American airline industry rebounded in 2014 with record-breaking profits. Thanks to crude oil prices remaining continuously low while worldwide travel demand has increased, the major airlines as a whole earned over $11 billion for 2014, with projected earnings in 2015 to climb to $17 billion. Crude oil prices have been dropping since early 2014 due to an over-saturated market and low demand, thereby padding the bottom lines of airline stocks, as jet oil is a significant portion of their expenses.
#8: How Safe is it to Fly on a Plane?
Statistics have shown that flying is by far the safest mode of transportation as compared to driving, cycling, walking or even taking the train. Arnold Barnett, an MIT statistics professor, determined that the chance of dying as a passenger on a commercial aircraft is one in 45 million flights. In terms of fatal accidents, 2014 was the safest in modern day aviation record, despite the large number of reported fatalities. Furthermore, aviation-specific deaths have been consistently decreasing since the 1990s and, considering that there have been more planes in the sky than ever before, this record is even more astonishing.
#7: What Was the Aviation Industry’s Track Record in 2014?
In terms of crashes, 2014 saw the lowest number of crashes in over 60 years, with a total of 111. That being said, 2014 was also one of the deadliest years, as over 1300 people were killed in several of those airplane crashes. This number was almost three times the number of deaths in 2013, according to the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives.
#6: What Were Some of 2014’s Most Notable Crashes?
2014 saw several major airline plane crashes. On March 8th, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared somewhere over the Gulf of Thailand between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. The aircraft was tracked by Malaysian military radar as it deviated from its planned route, until the signal was lost at 02:22 Malaysian Standard Time when the plane left the range. The disappearance of the aircraft, which was carrying a total of 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers, launched the most expensive and vast search in aviation history. Later on July 17th, the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down and crashed on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. As of early 2015, the most likely cause of the crash has been attributed to a surface-to-air-missile as part of the ongoing war in Donbass. The airline was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers when it was hit over Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine and led to the death of all aboard. Then, near the end of the year, on December 28th, Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 encountered bad weather and crashed into the Java Sea while making its way from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore. The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers and 7 crewmembers, all of whom perished in the accident.
#5: How Hard Was the Asian Airline Industry Hit in 2014?
In 2014, a total of three South East Asian planes crashed with no survivors, two of which seemingly vanished into thin air. Following the crash of the Malaysian MH17 flight over Ukraine, shares in Malaysian Airlines dropped by over 15% on July 18th, 2014. Furthermore, on the late-2014 European Union airline blacklist, published less than 3 weeks before the AirAsia flight, 92% of Indonesian airlines have been banned from flying in EU territory due to lax safety standards.
#4: What Happened in the Germanwings Flight 9525 Crash?
On March 24th, 2015, Germanwings flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps and killed all 144 passengers and 6 crew members on board. Germanwings is a low-cost subsidiary of German airline Lufthansa, and flight 9525 was flying from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany, when it began a steady descent after reaching its assigned cruising altitude. German and French prosecutors assigned the cause of the plane crash to co-pilot Andreas Lubitz once the contents of both cockpit voice recorders, also known as a black box, had been examined. In the moments leading to the crash, it is believed that the pilot in command, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer, was locked out of the cockpit after returning from a bathroom break and that he tried to break down the door. Furthermore, one can hear Lubitz’s steady breathing and the calls from air traffic controllers right before the impact on the recording. Additional information from the second flight data recorder showed that Lubitz deliberately accelerated the speed of the plane as it descended, and that the speed warning singled sounded twice and in both cases were manually deactivated. All this has led investigators to believe that Lubitz was conscious as the plane crashed and that the cause of the crash was pilot suicide although there was no suicide note left behind.
#3: Who Is Responsible for the Germanwings Accident?
As of early April 2015, investigators had found the second flight data recorder and had stopped searching for the bodies of the passengers as the investigation for the victims would continue through DNA strand analysis. Authorities have quickly delved into Lubitz’s background and determined that he had hid an unspecified existing illness from his employers, which was confirmed when they found a discarded doctor’s note in his apartment that labeled him “unfit to work” the day of the crash. It was further discovered that Lubitz had a history of depression, and during his flight training he had taken several months off in order to deal with it. According to the german newspaper, Der Spiegle, there was a note on Lubitz's medical certification that if the symptoms of his depression were to return his pilot license would have to be terminated. Furthermore, during a second search of his home, investigators discovered prescription pills that seem to suggest he was suffering from a “psychosomatic illness.”
#2: Has There Been Changes to Airline Regulations?
In the wake of the 2015 Germanwings plane crash, several countries have taken it upon themselves to modify their airline regulations, more specifically by requiring that at least two members of authorized personnel be in the cockpit at all times. Previously, following the September 11 attacks in which four airplanes were hijacked by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, the American Transportation Security Administration instituted a change regarding the cockpit in 2001: commercial aircrafts are now required to have bulletproof and strengthened cockpit doors, with the intention of limiting future attacks – however, in the case of the Germanwings crash, this may have prevented Captain Sondenheimer from re-entering the cabin after his bathroom break.
#1: What Does the Future of the Airline Industry Look Like?
Since its inception in 1909, the aviation industry has continued to grow and evolve, requiring higher levels of security for the passenger and the skies through which its planes fly. Quick changes to cockpit regulations have already been enacted in the wake of the Germanwings crash. These changes are important, but have left many wondering if they’re enough, as others begin to question the standards regarding the vetting and psychological examination process given to pilots. Discussions have already begun that call into question such issues as whether or not doctor-patient confidentiality be one day revoked in favor of passenger safety, and whether flying will remain a safer alternative to driving. Despite the fact that there appear to have been more and more air disasters in recent times, it should be remembered that these have been due to a variety of different causes, and air transportation still remains an extremely safe mode of transportation.
Did these facts surprise you? To vote for which news story is covered next, head over to WatchMojo.com/suggest, and be sure to hit that subscribe button for more newsworthy top 10s published every week.
10 Airline Safety Facts - WMNews Ep. 21
#10: How Has the Airline Industry Evolved?
The History
Founded in 1909 in Frankfurt, Germany as a spinoff of Zeppelin airships, DELAG was the world’s first airline to use aircraft as a revenue-generating passenger service. The first commercial flight took off in 1910, with many of the airline’s early flights serving as sightseeing tours. In the United States, the government did not regulate aviation for the first decade or so, following many accidents and due to fears of air transportation. As such, the first American aviation regulations were put in place only in the 1920s, and of particular note is the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which required pilots and aircrafts to be adequately licensed and examined, and for aviation accidents to be investigated. Thanks to the creation of other aviation agencies and organizations around the world, flying has since become safer due to better aircraft design, the institution of safety regulations and protocols, as well as advanced engineering.
#9: How Profitable Is the Industry?
The Finances
Previously known as a continual money loser, at least during the early 21st century, the American airline industry rebounded in 2014 with record-breaking profits. Thanks to crude oil prices remaining continuously low while worldwide travel demand has increased, the major airlines as a whole earned over $11 billion for 2014, with projected earnings in 2015 to climb to $17 billion. Crude oil prices have been dropping since early 2014 due to an over-saturated market and low demand, thereby padding the bottom lines of airline stocks, as jet oil is a significant portion of their expenses.
#8: How Safe is it to Fly on a Plane?
The Statistics
Statistics have shown that flying is by far the safest mode of transportation as compared to driving, cycling, walking or even taking the train. Arnold Barnett, an MIT statistics professor, determined that the chance of dying as a passenger on a commercial aircraft is one in 45 million flights. In terms of fatal accidents, 2014 was the safest in modern day aviation record, despite the large number of reported fatalities. Furthermore, aviation-specific deaths have been consistently decreasing since the 1990s and, considering that there have been more planes in the sky than ever before, this record is even more astonishing.
#7: What Was the Aviation Industry’s Track Record in 2014?
The Fatalities
In terms of crashes, 2014 saw the lowest number of crashes in over 60 years, with a total of 111. That being said, 2014 was also one of the deadliest years, as over 1300 people were killed in several of those airplane crashes. This number was almost three times the number of deaths in 2013, according to the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives.
#6: What Were Some of 2014’s Most Notable Crashes?
The Past
2014 saw several major airline plane crashes. On March 8th, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared somewhere over the Gulf of Thailand between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. The aircraft was tracked by Malaysian military radar as it deviated from its planned route, until the signal was lost at 02:22 Malaysian Standard Time when the plane left the range. The disappearance of the aircraft, which was carrying a total of 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers, launched the most expensive and vast search in aviation history. Later on July 17th, the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down and crashed on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. As of early 2015, the most likely cause of the crash has been attributed to a surface-to-air-missile as part of the ongoing war in Donbass. The airline was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers when it was hit over Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine and led to the death of all aboard. Then, near the end of the year, on December 28th, Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 encountered bad weather and crashed into the Java Sea while making its way from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore. The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers and 7 crewmembers, all of whom perished in the accident.
#5: How Hard Was the Asian Airline Industry Hit in 2014?
The Disasters
In 2014, a total of three South East Asian planes crashed with no survivors, two of which seemingly vanished into thin air. Following the crash of the Malaysian MH17 flight over Ukraine, shares in Malaysian Airlines dropped by over 15% on July 18th, 2014. Furthermore, on the late-2014 European Union airline blacklist, published less than 3 weeks before the AirAsia flight, 92% of Indonesian airlines have been banned from flying in EU territory due to lax safety standards.
#4: What Happened in the Germanwings Flight 9525 Crash?
The Crash
On March 24th, 2015, Germanwings flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps and killed all 144 passengers and 6 crew members on board. Germanwings is a low-cost subsidiary of German airline Lufthansa, and flight 9525 was flying from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany, when it began a steady descent after reaching its assigned cruising altitude. German and French prosecutors assigned the cause of the plane crash to co-pilot Andreas Lubitz once the contents of both cockpit voice recorders, also known as a black box, had been examined. In the moments leading to the crash, it is believed that the pilot in command, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer, was locked out of the cockpit after returning from a bathroom break and that he tried to break down the door. Furthermore, one can hear Lubitz’s steady breathing and the calls from air traffic controllers right before the impact on the recording. Additional information from the second flight data recorder showed that Lubitz deliberately accelerated the speed of the plane as it descended, and that the speed warning singled sounded twice and in both cases were manually deactivated. All this has led investigators to believe that Lubitz was conscious as the plane crashed and that the cause of the crash was pilot suicide although there was no suicide note left behind.
#3: Who Is Responsible for the Germanwings Accident?
The Recorder
As of early April 2015, investigators had found the second flight data recorder and had stopped searching for the bodies of the passengers as the investigation for the victims would continue through DNA strand analysis. Authorities have quickly delved into Lubitz’s background and determined that he had hid an unspecified existing illness from his employers, which was confirmed when they found a discarded doctor’s note in his apartment that labeled him “unfit to work” the day of the crash. It was further discovered that Lubitz had a history of depression, and during his flight training he had taken several months off in order to deal with it. According to the german newspaper, Der Spiegle, there was a note on Lubitz's medical certification that if the symptoms of his depression were to return his pilot license would have to be terminated. Furthermore, during a second search of his home, investigators discovered prescription pills that seem to suggest he was suffering from a “psychosomatic illness.”
#2: Has There Been Changes to Airline Regulations?
The Cockpit
In the wake of the 2015 Germanwings plane crash, several countries have taken it upon themselves to modify their airline regulations, more specifically by requiring that at least two members of authorized personnel be in the cockpit at all times. Previously, following the September 11 attacks in which four airplanes were hijacked by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, the American Transportation Security Administration instituted a change regarding the cockpit in 2001: commercial aircrafts are now required to have bulletproof and strengthened cockpit doors, with the intention of limiting future attacks – however, in the case of the Germanwings crash, this may have prevented Captain Sondenheimer from re-entering the cabin after his bathroom break.
#1: What Does the Future of the Airline Industry Look Like?
The Changes
Since its inception in 1909, the aviation industry has continued to grow and evolve, requiring higher levels of security for the passenger and the skies through which its planes fly. Quick changes to cockpit regulations have already been enacted in the wake of the Germanwings crash. These changes are important, but have left many wondering if they’re enough, as others begin to question the standards regarding the vetting and psychological examination process given to pilots. Discussions have already begun that call into question such issues as whether or not doctor-patient confidentiality be one day revoked in favor of passenger safety, and whether flying will remain a safer alternative to driving. Despite the fact that there appear to have been more and more air disasters in recent times, it should be remembered that these have been due to a variety of different causes, and air transportation still remains an extremely safe mode of transportation.
Did these facts surprise you? To vote for which news story is covered next, head over to WatchMojo.com/suggest, and be sure to hit that subscribe button for more newsworthy top 10s published every week.
