How likely are you to have an accident on an airplane?
Many of us love holidays and spend months planning them; choosing our favourite destinations, finding out all the local information, the must-sees, making sure the children are going to be sufficiently entertained as well as searching for the best bargains […]
Many of us love holidays and spend months planning them; choosing our favourite destinations, finding out all the local information, the must-sees, making sure the children are going to be sufficiently entertained as well as searching for the best bargains in all aspects of the holiday: clothes, holiday reading material, accommodation and transport. With so much to think about few people give a second thought to flying to their exotic destination. Although not quite the everyday mode of transport, flying is still commonplace and regularly used.
Thankfully, accidents involving airplanes are rare however, there have been a number of accidents in the past year alone which have hit the headlines.
On 1st June this year an Air France airbus 330 vanished over the Atlantic during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 288 people on board are presumed to have died. There were 12 crew on board and passengers from 32 nationalities including five Britons, 61 French, 58 Brazilians and twenty-six Germans.
The plane disappeared after entering a “thunderous zone with strong turbulence” at 2am midway between Brazil and North West Africa. Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, Air France’s chief executive, said the aircraft sent out a “succession of a dozen technical messages…indicating that several systems had broken down…indicating a completely unheard of situation.”
Investigators are unsure of the exact causes but they believe the plane hit the ocean “belly first” and intact which could indicate an aircraft recovering from a stall. It could also indicate that the pilots tried to retain control after the aircraft plummeted from 35,000feet in just over 4minutes. None of the passengers were wearing life jackets suggesting that they were not prepared for an emergency. 51 bodies have been recovered from the sea.
However it is now unlikely that we will know the exact facts behind this tragedy as the “black boxes” which contain the flight details will now have run out of battery and will no longer be emitting signals; even if they are located they would be difficult to retrieve as they are probably 10,000feet deep on the mountainous ocean floor.
Just a month later on 29th June, a second aircraft crashed into the sea. This time it was a Yemenia Airbus 310 flying from Paris to Grande Comoro which is 250 miles off the South East coast of Africa. The plane was coming into land and had already made a first failed attempt before it disappeared. Mohammad al-Sumairi, deputy general manager for Yemenia operations said that “weather conditions were rough; strong wind and high seas. The wind speed recorded on land at airport was 38mph. There could be other factors.” Although Yemeni airlines are not on the European Union ‘black list’ which bans planes from flying in the region’s air space it is “subject to stricter checks”.
There were 153 people onboard including 11 crew and 3 babies, most of them were French or Comoran. The only survivor to be found was 12year old Bahia Bakari who clung to the wreckage of the plane for three days before she was found. She was flying with her mother who is believed to have died in the crash. Again the exact causes may never be known as the black boxes will be difficult to locate and retrieve as they are most likely on the sea bed.
Then to add this string of tragedies there was a third fatal aeroplane crash on 11th August. A chartered plane, carrying 11 passengers and 2 crew, was flying from Port Moresby, the capitol of Papua New Guinea, to an airport near the Kokoda region when it crashed. The passengers, including nine Australian, one Japanese and three Papua New Guineans, were heading for the tourist destination of the Kokoda track. This is a 60 mile mountainous route where, during the Second World War Australian troops managed to halt the advance of Japanese troops on the Port of Moresby. No survivors were found.
With these horrific accidents fresh in our minds many people may be having second thoughts about flying. However if we actually look at the statistics for the safety of flying then your mind may be put at rest:
Various research has found that passengers boarding a plane have 99.99% chance of surviving the flight making flying the safest mode of transport. With more than 3 million people flying every single day you are 22 times safer on a plane than travelling by car. Looking at this another way, according to research by Charles Bremner (writing for The Times) “flying is probably safer than staying at home” if you look at injuries resulting from domestic accidents. In official figures from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2007 there were only 0.014 deaths per 100million passenger miles from just eleven accidents and this is despite there being a rise in air traffic.
Although aeroplanes crashes are comparatively rare other more minor accidents or problems are far more common. These could include emergency landings, rough landings or sustaining injuries from rough flights caused by turbulence. Another contentious issue is the quality of air provided by the air conditioning.
On many planes air is drawn out of the compression section of the engine and cooled; it then enters the cabin where it mixes with re-circulated air that has passed through filters to remove bacteria and viruses. However the filters don’t remove fumes or vapours from the engines so if there is a leak of oil or hydraulic fuel then toxic chemicals could contaminate the air supply. In new research 31 swabs were secretly taken in aeroplane cabins; 28 showed high levels of toxic chemicals. Contaminated cabin air could be affecting up to 200,000 passengers a year.
Air conditioning on aeroplanes could cause skin irritation and respiratory trouble. Ozone pollution can cause respiratory problems while the decreased oxygen pressure is a health risk to those suffering from pre-existing conditions such as cardiac or respiratory disease. The dry air also causes eyes to dry as well as nasal membrane and skin while pesticides cause skin irritation.
Although you would have to be a more frequent flyer to suffer from health problems the risks are still there. Research carried out among 789 British airline staff showed that 1 in7 took more than a month’s sick leave in the previous year. One in 23 have been diagnosed with cancer despite their average age being 4o and cancer research claiming that those under 44 have only a 1 in 200 chance of contracting cancer. One in twenty has also reported being diagnosed with chronic fatigue although normally it is around 1 in 100. Also 20% of those surveyed have been diagnosed with depression but the national average is 8-12%. As well as these problems there were also found to be high levels of miscarriages, thyroid conditions, high blood pressure, cholesterol, pneumonia, bronchitis and IBS.
Finally it is also thought that air conditioning on planes could be re-circulating bacteria and viruses, although the filters remove most of these. This means that, combined with the close quarters of passengers on planes, bugs are more likely to be spread. Catching a virus at the beginning of your holiday could easily ruin all your hard earned rest and turn what should be a fun and memorable occasion into a nightmare.
If you have suffered any holiday injuries or illnesses from flying, either suspected bugs or nasty knocks from a rough landing then you may have a case to claim compensation for any medical costs or discomfort you suffered. For the opportunity to chat with a friendly professional solicitor to discuss your case call Macks Solicitors on 0800 562 4321 or fill in the online claim form at http://www.mackssolicitors.co.uk/.