Re:Is my plane a 737 MAX?
by deelowe on Tuesday January 09, 2024 @01:00PM
(#38929458)
Why would I care about per mile stats? What matters to me is the safety of the contraption and crew I'm putting my faith in each time I step foot into the machine. Airplanes shouldn't get a higher safety rating simply because the trips are 100x longer on average.
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You would care because, presumably, you're deciding on a mode of transport to travel those miles. Otherwise, the measure is deaths per trip, which would prompt the conclusion that cars are thousands of times safer than air travel.
It doesn't work that way. When I fly, it's typically the only feasible option. I've never in my life sat down and calculated flying vs driving. It's more something like >400 miles, then fly, otherwise drive.
Sounds like actual risk matters little to you and you care far more about feelings of risk.
>Airplanes shouldn't get a higher safety rating simply because the trips are 100x longer on average.
Note that you can take those stats and multiply by how many miles you're traveling to figure out your per-incident risk (ie. risk for the whole flight). Even if you do that you'll find they're quite safe, compared to other activities you do every day. Sure, the averages might not be applicable for edge cases (eg. very short flights), but for the average traveler it's a pretty good estimate.