Willmark:
Don’t have the link handy but it’s all over the US News. It crashed early this morning. From where I live it’s about 62 miles west of me.
Just another reminder of why I don’t like flying.
Oh and one of the passengers on the plane in the Hudson… Friend of my one of my older brothers, lived 5-6 houses down the street from where I lived as a kid.
Thorgar:
I hate flying too, people always tell you its safe and nothings going to go wrong, and stuff ends up going wrong, not always, but sometimes…
Xander:
It’s far more unsafe to drive a car. If every news outlet reported traffic fatalities with the same vigour as plane crashes, I wonder how many people would fear taking the bus.
two_heads_talking:
you are more likely to get hit by lightning twice than getting injured or killed in a plane crash…
you are also more likely to die of mold spores or some other sort of fungus in your home from lack of cleaning than you are to get hit by lightning twice…
It’s a tragedy nonetheless and the families of the disceased will grieve and mourn. I think a lady on that flight was the wife of a man who died in the 9/11 plane crash. She was on her way to give a speech in memory of that flight. I might have that mixed up though.
The weird part is that there was no radio traffic for a bit. No mayday, not warning response or no ask for help. No one knows what happened on there. We’ll have to wait until they find the black box and check it out.
Willmark:
It's far more unsafe to drive a car. If every news outlet reported traffic fatalities with the same vigour as plane crashes, I wonder how many people would fear taking the bus.No doubt it's far more likely with a car.
Xander
Xander:
I decided to look up some more official stats on the matter.
So it depends on how you look at it. I think since planes are substitutes for long-distance travel you need to examine the deaths per kilometre stat. Interesting stats though.
Aviation safety - Wikipedia
There are three main statistics which may be used to compare the safety of various forms of travel:
Deaths per billion journeys, Deaths per billion hours, Deaths per billion kilometres.
Deaths per billion journeys
Bus: 4.3
Rail: 20
Van: 20
Car: 40
Foot: 40
Water: 90
Air: 117
Bicycle: 170
Motorcycle: 1640
Deaths per billion hours
Bus: 11.1
Rail: 30
Air: 30.8
Water: 50
Van: 60
Car: 130
Foot: 220
Bicycle: 550
Motorcycle: 4840
Deaths per billion kilometres
Air: 0.05
Bus: 0.4
Rail: 0.6
Van: 1.2
Water: 2.6
Car: 3.1
Bicycle: 44.6
Foot: 54.2
Motorcycle: 108.9
It is worth noting that the air industry’s insurers base their calculations on the “number of deaths per journey” statistic while the industry itself generally uses the “number of deaths per kilometre” statistic in press releases.
Statistics c/o Wikipedia
snowblizz:
I decided to look up some more official stats on the matter.Also... how often do you fly compared to the other modes of transport? The deaths/km is probably fairer looking at that. FWIW I'm always disinclined to believe any version the insurers use. They screw you every time.
So it depends on how you look at it. I think since planes are substitutes for long-distance travel you need to examine the deaths per kilometre stat. Interesting stats though.
Xander
Kera foehunter:
willmark what is with you people and plain crashes in yew york???
Swissdictator:
And that’s why I don’t own a motorcycle.
My brother CONSTANTLY flies for Physics confrences all the times. It worries me at times… half the time I don’t even know what country he is in. It used to be half the time I didn’t know which continent.
cornixt:
Looks like the flight recorders survived okay, and they are both pretty new models, so I should be able to find out the reasons in a few weeks since it is related closely to my line of work, although it will probably be all over the news just before then anyway. It is pretty odd to read the transcripts of people talking just before they die (it is incredibly rare to hear that actual recordings, despite what certain tv programs say), they are nearly always very aware they are going to crash for a few minutes.
Maul:
I still like trains. Feet are closer to the Earth and more space to stretch my long legs.
Kera foehunter:
Ha!! pirates ships don’t make the list !!
so it proves that pirates ship are the safest way to travel!!
Fallen246:
@Kera: Or they simply leave NO WITNESSES.
Kera foehunter:
There would always be one that lived .So that they can go to the local pub and tell great story for ale !!
Willmark:
Yeah read the reports today like the were pitching side to side and up and down and it happened suddenly at about 2200 feet, bizarre…
Bassman:
I have no problem with flying, the immense stupidity of people driving (at least in Italy) convinces me that driving is not so safe, but it’s just my personal opinion, without any statistic study behind.
I’m really sorry when this kind of things happen, and it was a shock when I heard about this tragedy.
Does anybody talked about terrorism? At least maybe this phobia got to an end…
Willmark:
It looks like it might have been a pilot error, ice or both…
two_heads_talking:
I believe the reposrts said the pilot did a few things wrong… He might have turned the deicing equipment on too early. this would cause the rubberized bladder to ice over and not be able to inflte or deflate properly to break up the ice.
It could also have been when the auto pilot kicked on and sensing the ice, moved the stick and the pilot seeing this panics and trys to overcorrect a stall, causing a worse stall.
Etc… I think they listed 5 pilot error situations that could have been the ultimate cause. They also said those pilot errors were also very common things a pilot would do in each situation.
It’s a shame though…
Cryonicleech:
eh, at least no one died in the hudson, thats good.
me? I walk…go figure…
kinda messed up, cuz there was a car crash like two miles from my house while I was driving home. Some crazy dude tried to drive in between two cars. no one died there though…so I heard