I get the willies when I fly on airplanes.
Especially now.
On January 5 an Alaska Airlines flight left Portland and at 16,000 feet a door-plug blew out.
I will be flying into and out of Portland on Alaska Air.
I can imagine being on board a flight where something like that happens. Yikes!
But, for calm, rational perspective, I should remember that no one died in the incident. The planes are over-engineered. The flight crew knew what to do.
In fact, no one died anywhere in the USA in a commercial jet plane accident in 2023.
Meanwhile, for perspective, 60 people are murdered every single day in the U.S.
Covid deaths are way down, but about 60 people a day in the U.S. still die from Covid -- almost all of them people like me, over age 65.
Car accidents kill about 114 people every day in the U.S.
Drug overdoses cause the death of 300 Americans every day.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death; 1,600 Americans experience a first heart attack every day.
Even events I consider vanishingly rare are far more dangerous than flying commercial. Lightning kills two Americans every month. Bee and other insect stings kill six Americans every month.
Almost one American dies every day from an injury after falling from a ladder. I still get up on ladders to prune and pick fruit at the farm, and to do household chores like change ceiling lightbulbs, but I should probably stop. Older people reach too far or lose balance in some way, and they fall. I don't feel unsteady in the least, but the statistics tell me I am tempting fate.
The prospect of falling out of the sky is so terrifying that the commercial air travel industry has emphasized safety. That was smart and necessary. Otherwise, people wouldn't fly.
Meanwhile, Americans die every day from something other than air travel while worrying about having booked window seats. What if the side of the plane opens up? Yikes!
There were angels around that plane...had it happened at a higher elevation, had someone been sitting there. The child in the 2nd seat over was okay, I cannot imagine being his mama or gramma. I'm not overly religious, but if I were on that plane, I would be certain that something or some being was protecting those passengers. In fact, I usually am religious when I board a plane, placing angels all around, above & below before takeoff or landing. Now we know what the alarms were previously trying to reveal, that the bolts had dislodged!
Watched Society of the Snow last night. I'm guessing they won't be showing it as an in-flight movie.
Saw Sullenberger on TV today re safety.
Airplane crashes command our attention, and I'm a nervous flyer, but air travel in almost absurdly safe.