Air disasters

“The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that 502 people died in airliner accidents around the world last year, compared to 692 in 2007. That was despite an increase in the total number of crashes, from 100 to 109. The association said there was one airliner accident for every 1.2 million flights.

Authorities say commercial flying is at its safest in a 100-year history. ‘Safety is the industry’s number one priority’,’ IATA’s director general said in a statement accompanying the report.” [AP Feb 25, 2009 – Yahoo! News]

A month after the report was published; we read news of multiple crashes of commercial, cargo and military jets. Expect more reports of air disasters to come out this year, especially between now in spring to the summer holidays.

For those looking for a likely rationale for why much more air disasters will occur in 2009, it is probably because of poor maintenance due to the ongoing retrenchment of personnel across the board and other costs-cutting measures announced by airline companies or even faulty engine designs. (Aviation authorities and IATA should take note of that.)

So plan your holidays well this spring and summer; fly only with airlines which have a good flight safety record and not in trouble. Notwithstanding what the civil aviation authorities and IATA will tell you about their strict regulations and flight history. These are dire times for many countries and airline companies, remember?

In case you still have not caught on to what one is hinting, I have recently told a sibling to avoid taking a flight back during a particular month within the spring/summer season to visit a sick relative. She has decided to defer the planned visit until the end of 2009.

Of course you can leave it to fate, if you wish. The choice is always up to you or not.



P.S.

I had wanted to blog another forewarning together with this entry, however since there was a huge rumbling from heaven during the drafting, it has been deferred. And the continuous thunder has since gone away to a safe distance. Let us see if heaven will allow it to be blogged later. There is still some time left before that particular unlucky omen happens. Governments could have their hands full, if the omen actually occurs.