The heartbreaking loss of Air India Flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick is an example of an extremely rare event: a big jet crashing on an intercontinental aircraft route.
Many potential travelers will see the images of the tragedy in India, and three other passenger jet goes down in the last six months and concludes that aviation will be more dangerous.
But without reducing these disasters and the devastating human toll, this remains the safest decade in aviation history.
Such is the occupation of security among aviation people, which many risks have been constructed. The last fatal accident involving a British passenger jet was in the 1980s.
By 2023, accidents and fatal accidents on record low without planned passenger rays were involved in mortal crashes.
In the last week of 2024, more than 200 people lost their lives in two separate events: The Christmas Day Accident of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer E190, followed by the loss four days later by a Jeju Air Boeing 737 on arrival in Muan in South Korea.
In January, a regional jet in American Airlines collided with an American army Black Hawk Helicopter in Washington DC and took the lives of all 67 on board.
Attention will also be focused on the Boeing security culture. Shocking deficiencies in the aircraft manufacturer were exposed in the wake of two deadly crashes by Boeing 737 max.
Design errors led to the temporary grounding of the aircraft worldwide and by 2024 another event, where a door plug burst openly at 16,000 feet, triggered further investigations.
This is the first mortal incident involving 787. Shortly after it entered the service in 2011, caused concern about the fire risk from lithium batteries to a temporary grounding. There is no indication that the crash was associated with technical problems on board the aircraft.
More than 1,000 Boeing 787 aircraft are operating with dozens of international airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, both of which have exemplary security registers.
When news about the tragedy in India emerged, British Air Accident’s Investigation Branch (AAIB) published its annual security review for 2024.
In the report, Crispin Orr, the chief inspector said: “Major accidents in Japan, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Republic Korea in 2024 serve as a sober reminder that there should never be security for granted.
“Basic studies of accidents and serious events continue to be necessary to reveal remaining vulnerabilities.”
But he also pointed out: “Commercial aviation is still one of the safest forms of public transport, where global accident frequencies continue their long -term decline.”
This is especially relevant at a time when the horrible death toll on India’s paths shows no sign of decline; On a typical day, almost 500 people unfortunately lose their lives in traffic accidents.