Pilot error is less of a factor in airline mishaps

While your chances of dying in a horrible airline accident are somewhat lesscertain than winning the lottery, researchers say the little runway mishaps that can ruin your day have more to do with the number of planes in the air than bad decisions made by pilots.

The number of airline mishaps attributed to pilot error significantly declined between 1983 and 2002, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.