Are Airplanes Safe?

             Many people travel by airplane all around the world. For some people it is the only way they can get to where they are going. On a daily basis, around 30,000 seats are filled on airplanes. At each airport, there are hundreds of arrivals and departures worldwide. Even though airline officials say flying is safe, accidents kill many people because airlines neglect to prevent human error or repair faulty equipment. Sometimes I think the only reason an airplane could crash is if something on the plane were to break, however, most of the time that is not the case. A survey conducted by Boeing found that flight crews were responsible for at least 73 percent of all fatal airplane accidents. Forty-one percent of these accidents occurred during landing because of unstable approaches. The majority of all airline accidents involve some degree of human error. .
             This is very surprising when people are putting their lives in the hands of flight crews. Forty-four passengers died aboard a new British Midland 737 after its crew shut down the wrong engine after the other one malfunctioned. Do you really think that flying on an airplane, over which you have absolutely no control is very safe? Reasons for flight crew error can be explained by the conditions under which they are flying. Flight crew fatigue is a largely increasing problem on many of the jumbo jet flights today. Although there are laws that prohibit cockpit crews from sleeping in flight, there have been many weary pilots that have been known to nod off on occasion during some of their seventeen hours, nonstop flights. Perhaps laws should regulate the number of hours a flight crew is in the air instead of prohibiting sleep in flight. .
             Another condition, alcohol abuse, has been found to inhibit the abilities of some flight crews. Another reason for flight crew error is pressure to meet flight time schedules. Some of these flights take place during hazardous weather conditions.