The first commercial flight in history has a precise date. It was in 1908 when engineer Wilbur Wright transported Charlsen Furnas to North Carolina. A year later, in 1909, the world’s first company was founded: DELAG. Delag, founded by Ferdinand Von Zeppelin and Hugo Eckner was the world’s first and true airline. From the first commercial flight to the present day, more than a century has passed. In the meantime, aeroplanes have become one of the world’s most used means of getting from one city to another and from one state to another. In today’s article, we will try to analyse which are the most important air disasters in history, which air accidents have occurred over time and, finally, which are the most dangerous means of transport in the world.
Worst air disasters in History
Let us start by answering a first question. What are the worst air disasters in history? The record number of fatalities in a plane crash (in flight) dates back to 1985. On 12 August 1985, the Japan Air Lines international flight departed from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Only 12 minutes into the flight, the flight suffered a sudden, severe decompression. The decompression was due, according to the investigation, to a faulty repair. This error led to 526 people crashing into Mount Takamagahara at a speed of 100 kilometres.
The two plane crashes that claimed the most lives, however, are attributed to the 11 September attack in 2001. The attack on the twin towers caused American airlines Flight 11 from Boston’s Logan International Airport – which was supposed to arrive in Los Angeles – was hijacked by a group of al-Qaeda terrorists and crashed into one of the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. The total number of people in the plane was 92. But the impact with one of the two towers killed a total of 1,344 people. The second plane that was crashed by al-Qaeda terrorists on 11 September 2001 was United Airlines Flight 175. The total number of people on board the plane was 65. Again, however, the crash claimed 679 lives. If we add these figures to those of the other plane, the total number of victims rises to 2,763.
These two terrorist attacks represented the most complex moment for the industry and for an entire country. An episode like that of 11 September is and will forever remain in the history books. In third place among the disasters with the most fatalities in the world is the plane crash at the airport in Tenerife, Spain. In this case two planes, flight KLM4805 and Pan Am flight 1736 collided. The former was taking off and the latter was on the runway. In total 583 people died and only 61 people were saved.
The safest means of transport
Many people in the world have a fear of travelling. It can be a limited fear, which still allows one to make the journey, or a total fear. But are we sure that the plane is the most insecure means of travelling? Statistics compiled by (NSC Injury Fatcs) compare, for example, the morality rate per passenger in the United States. The figure refers to the number of deaths per 100,000,000 miles.
In 2019, the means of transport was not aeroplanes. The mode of transport was passenger vehicles with a value of 0.46. In second place were buses with 0.04 fatalities per 100,000,000 miles. In third position were trains with 0.005 and in last position air travel with a value of 0.000398.
If you like it and want to support the channel donate a coffee to the Statistics and Data project: https://ko-fi.com/statisticsanddata
Read more articles: https://statisticsanddata.org/
To follow the channel subscribe: https://youtube.com/c/statisticsanddata
Support “Statistics and Data”
