Simon Calder explains all you need to know after Delta Air Lines plane crash

Is it still safe to fly? Simon Calder explains all you need to know after Delta Airlines plane crashSource: Simon Calder

Transcript

00:00You have probably seen the pictures, the images, the footage of Delta Air Lines flight 4819 from Minneapolis

00:08which crashed on arrival at Toronto Airport on Monday the 17th of February.

00:14The aircraft flipped over and all 80 passengers and crew were successfully evacuated.

00:23Three of them are reported to be in a critical condition and of course our thoughts are with

00:29them and their families. Now a few people are saying to me what a miracle it was that everyone

00:36got out alive and other people are saying flying is becoming much more dangerous and I'd like to

00:44address both of those points. First of all this like the last such incident at Toronto Airport

00:53that was in 2005 involving an Air France flight from Paris. Everybody got out alive but that was

01:01not due to a miracle it was due to extremely good planning, engineering and execution of the

01:10emergency evacuation. People need to listen to the safety briefing and they need to follow the

01:18instructions of cabin crew. One thing which actually I found very alarming about the images

01:24I've seen of the Delta Air Lines flight is that people were clutching their cabin baggage as they

01:30left the aircraft. Please don't film stuff inside the cabin, please don't grab anything in the

01:37extremely unlikely event that you are involved in an emergency evacuation. Safety in aviation is

01:46built on past tragedies and lessons from very sadly fatal accidents have helped to ensure that

01:54people manage to survive this accident. Next is aviation becoming more dangerous? Well looking at

02:03the tragedies that have happened since Christmas Day when you'll recall an Azerbaijan Airlines

02:09aircraft crashed after it was shot by Russian anti-aircraft fire. A few days later an aircraft

02:17coming into land at a Korean airport ploughed into a concrete barrier. Then we saw on the 29th of

02:24January the horrific crash between a commuter jet and a Black Hawk helicopter at Washington DC.

02:32Now it is tempting, it's human to conclude that flying is becoming more dangerous but please

02:40don't draw that very apparently self-evident conclusion. This is absolutely the safest decade

02:48that we have ever seen for passenger aviation and flying remains far safer than almost any other

02:56form of transport except possibly the railways. In particular British and Irish airlines have

03:03absolutely the best safety record in the world. Ryanair is the safest airline in terms of the

03:10number of passengers flown without a fatal accident and EasyJet is in second place.