Three major airline accidents that left a total of almost 700 people dead garnered worldwide attention in 2014. But air travel is still remarkably safe in the United States.
There have been 1,326 flight accident deaths worldwide in 2014, the most since 1,463 people were killed in 2005, according to the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. However, 2014 is only the 59th deadliest year since their records began in 1918. There have been 280 fewer deaths in 2014 compared to the median deaths per year: 1,606.
Most flights on U.S. carriers have over 10 seats and are classified as 14 CFR 121 flights. These flights flew a combined 7.6 million miles and 17.6 million hours in 2013. Fortunately, only nine people died in two fatal accidents. Seven more were seriously injured in a total of 23 accidents.
There were just 0.051 fatalities per 100,000 U.S. flight hours in 2013. The data are not strictly comparable, but there were 5.6 fatalities per 100,000 U.S. flight hours in 1965.
There were no fatal accidents in the U.S. in 2011 and 2012. Even 2001 had only six fatal accidents, or 0.034 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours.
In terms of mileage, there were only 0.119 deaths per 100 million miles flown in 2013. For comparison, there were 1.13 deaths per 100 million miles driven in 2012. That is nine and a half times higher than deaths from flight.
U.S. passenger rail is even more deadly than flying and driving. In 2012, there were 4.7 fatalities per 100 million miles traveled on passenger trains.
To be fair, these flight data do not account for flight deaths that occur on small, private planes such as Cessnas and Learjets. In 2013, there were 387 deaths from 221 fatal accidents in all of U.S. general aviation. For all general aviation, only data on total hours are available, not miles traveled.
In spite of the perceived danger of flight, the numbers show it continues to be the safest way to get from one point to another.
