It’s official, 2019 has been crowned as the third safest year in aviation history. But at what cost?
According to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), a foundation that records all air crashes and incidents reported around the world, there has been only been an account of 14 accidents entailing passenger flights this year. Which, unfortunately, turned up 280 deaths. However, this is comparatively less to the massive count of 534 deaths reported in 2018.
The Fatal Tragedies of Aviation in 2019!
During 2019, the worst plane crash took place on the 10th of March, when a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft of the Ethiopian Airlines lost control shortly after take-off and crashed near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. The tumultuous wreck claimed the lives of 157 passengers and further highlighted its severity when it was revealed that the plane’s engine was buried 10m inside the surface upon impact. A day earlier, another aircraft operated by LASER crashed while attempts of an emergency landing were at hand, instantly taking 14 lives with its end. Finally, the last passenger flight accident took place on December 27 when 12 people onboard a Bek Air Flight were killed in a crash in Kazakhstan.
Further…
- On January 14 – The Saha Airlines Boeing 707 crash caused 15 of 16 people on board to lose their lives
- February 23 – The crash of Atlas Air Flight 3591 killed two crew members and the single passenger
- March 9 – The Colombia DC-3 crash killed all 14 people onboard
- May 5 – Aeroflot Flight 1492 burned out right after landing, causing 41 of the 78 onboard to lose their lives
- May 13 – The mid-air collision of George Inlet caused the death of one passenger
- October 4 – Ukraine Air Alliance Flight 4050’s crash landing kills five of the eight passengers onboard
- November 24 – The Busy Bee crash kills 19 on board shortly after taking off from Congo.
And despite all these accidents, evidence suggests that the accidents have gone down! This was further proved when the ASN released graphs depicting the annual deaths in air accidents – the graph detailed a reduction of accidents involving commercial passenger and cargo flights. While this doesn’t exactly help sceptical fliers get over their fears, it does, however, allude to a future of safer and better travel. And that’s something all of us would graciously accept without a second thought.
So, here’s to a year of change! A year where dreams aren’t cut short while making it across the sky.
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