Safe air travel has been on the minds of citizens in the United States for some time now. The question still comes to mind, is it safe to travel the skies commercially? Of course, the very first thoughts are of the seemingly unavoidable tragic events of 9/11 that will always be in the back of our minds as we make our decision whether to fly or not to fly.
Since 9/11, air marshals have been put in place to give us a sense of power and protect us in our air travels. Also, the phrase airport security has become a catchy way of deceiving the consumer into thinking commercial flying is once again as harmless as it ever was.
What may happen next is anyone’s guess. No one could have predicted events of 9/11 (despite the infamous Nostrasilliness supposed prediction). Nor would anyone predict the Concorde in Paris that exploded on take-off claiming 109 lives. That particular airplane had no previous accident record. You cannot pick which plane is going to be the next victim of some freakish accident.
I know the argument that comes with this article. I can hear it already. “It is more dangerous to travel in a car than in a commercial airplane.” The answer to that statement is that you are correct, but other factors play into the mix when traveling in the air.
There are those unfortunate times that aircraft accidents take place due to malfunction of the planes themselves. This is a low occurrence of most of the accidents all over the world.
The main reason for air disaster is human error, whether it is the error of the pilot, security or the maintenance of the aircraft. People have tendencies to not do their job correctly and when they do not do their job well in this business, it costs lives.
So what does the average security guard make a year at any given airport? Normally, the security is lowest paid out of everyone, this is to keep the overhead of the airports down. I doubt that we could pay any amount of money to get better security at airports. The staff at individual airports have to want to do their jobs, not because of money, but because it will save lives.
So, is air travel safe?
Air travel is safe if you are not on a plane with a bomb on board, a terrorist preparing for a kamikaze attack, an intoxicated pilot in the front seat ready to take-off and maintenance staff that have actually done what they are supposed to do.
I will just drive. Not because I feel the mysteries of flight are unconquerable, but I am tired of seeing people die because of carelessness, and I will not be next.

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