What are the odds of dying in a plane crash?

[ad name=”ATO Right Banner”]The odds of dying in a plane crash are dependent upon several various factors, most notably which airlines you are flying on. When flying with the best 25 accident rate airlines in the world, your odds of dying in an airplane crash are 1 in 9.2 million. When flying with the worst 25 accident rate airlines in the world, your odds of dying in an airplane crash increase to 1 in 843,744.

If you are a frequent flyer, data from the National Center for Health Statistics estimates that the odds of dying in a plane crash, over the entire course of your lifetime, are 1 in 20,000.

Hands down, the most critical cause of airline crashes that contributes to more fatalities than any other is pilot error. This is the main reason that pilots spend years training and serving as co-pilots before they are ever given full pilot control over a commercial airplane.

Other common causes of airplane crashes are: mechanical failure, weather accidents, and sabotage.

To decrease your chances of dying in a plane crash, stick to popular commercial airlines and avoid flying in private aircraft whenever possible. Statistics show that it is 8.3 times safer to fly with commercial airlines than to fly with smaller private aircraft. This is largely due to the fact that commercial airliner pilots are more experienced and have more training than a large majority of private aircraft pilots.

Also, make sure to always follow all airline safety rules and procedures as they are designed to assist you and help save your life during the event of a severe airplane accident.

When comparing the fatality risk by death per passenger kilometer (the number of people flying and how much distance they are covering), airline travel is safer than traveling by car, bus, or train. This fact is slightly overstated and somewhat misleading as airplanes cover far more distance quicker, when compared to the other methods of travel.

As time and technology progresses, airplanes continue to make advances in safety and rely more on technology and less on human (pilot) interaction to reduce the possible margins of error which could lead to a fatal crash.