Plane your fears away

When did you last travel by air? I’m sure many of you would answer: “last month”, “within the past few days”, or even “I’m on a plane right now”. (If your answer is the latter you might want to skip reading this — or else I urge that you read to the end.) Whether for holiday or work, commuting by plane is inevitable in people’s lifestyles (for those who can afford it). While many regard the prospect of flying as a leisurely activity, some see it a drudging, brutal routine.

As a frequent flyer, my perception of air travel had always been a mix of both camps. But that was only up until last year, when I started to see air travel as a coin toss. In my mind, chances are 50/50: If I’m lucky I will return home safe and sound; if not it could be the last time I ever see my family.

Although I could say I’m always prepared for the worst, the reality is that I’m not and never will be.

Distressing headlines concerning aviation incidents seemed distressingly commonplace in 2014 — the disappearance Malaysia Airlines Flight 370; the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 after it was shot down in Ukraine; the crash of Air Algerie Flight 5017 in Mali, which left 116 dead; the crash of AirAsia Indonesia Flight 8501.

But I, like many other travellers, have had no choice but to continue commuting by plane. A close call I’ve experienced lately occurred during the sudden shut down of London airspace on Dec 12.

After a 10-hour flight from Bangkok, and shortly before our scheduled landing at the Heathrow airport, my fellow passengers and I learned, much to our horror, that the plane could not land as expected because of a catastrophic error in the UK’s air traffic control system.

The landing would have to wait until the system was back online. But no one knew when that would be. After some 20 minutes of flying around, the captain made an announcement.

“We are looking for another airport in another European country where we can land before the plane runs out of fuel,” he said. “We will not make it to London tonight.”

We were finally rerouted to Copenhagen, where we spent 19 frustrating hours wearing the same clothes, waiting for a flight back to London. Yet I survived, and finally arrived at my destination 24 hours behind schedule.

I was grateful for just having missed a couple of events on my itinerary. Compared those who have lost their lives in plane crashes, I am very lucky.

My latest trip was last week, to Taipei — one day after TransAsia Flight 235 crashed into the city’s Keelung River. Of the 58 people on board, 15 survived.

I don’t know whether I should be worried, but death seems to be closer to air travellers than ever before. Statistics, however, show otherwise. According to the Aviation Safety Network, an organisation that tracks global air traffic accidents, the past few years have been the safest period in aviation history since 1945.

There were only eight crashes and 992 fatalities in 2014.

Considering the fact that there’s now an estimated 100,000 flights around the world per day, the odds of being killed in a plane crash can be as low as one in 4.7 million.

The chance of dying in an automobile accident is significantly higher, around one in 8,000.

It seems, then, that getting behind the wheel of a car is more treacherous than flying, the most dangerous part of which is the drive to the airport.

“Although I could say I’m always prepared for the worst, the reality is that I’m not and never will be.”