How safe is flying right now? What to know after the Jeju Air plane crash
- A Jeju Air flight crashed in South Korea, killing 179 people on board.
- Flying commercially is statistically very safe, with a much lower risk of death compared to car travel.
- The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but a bird strike warning was issued before the incident.
Nearly everyone on board a Jeju Air flight from Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan County, South Korea, was killed Sunday when their plane crashed at Muan International Airport. Only two of the 181 people on Flight 7C2216 survived.
The exact cause of the accident is under investigation, but South Korean Transport Ministry officials say the control tower issued a bird strike warning minutes before the pilots declared a mayday and attempted to land. The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 appeared to belly land on the runway before skidding into a wall and erupting into flames.
“This plane appears to have landed at an extremely high speed. It does not appear that the landing flaps were extended,” airline industry analyst Henry Harteveldt told Paste BN. “There are a lot of questions about why that is the case: if there was a hydraulic failure or if everything just happened so fast, if indeed there was a bird strike and were the birds ingested into both engines? Lots of unknown factors here.”
However, one thing is certain: “Commercial aviation statistically remains the safest form of transportation,” he said.
Here’s what travelers should know.
How safe is flying right now?
Flying commercially remains very safe.
According to the National Safety Council, “the lifetime odds of dying as an aircraft passenger in the United States was too small to calculate.” By contrast, the nonprofit safety advocate cites a 1 in 93 chance of dying in a motor-vehicle crash, noting 46,027 motor-vehicle deaths in the U.S. in 2022 alone.
For additional perspective, the Federal Aviation Administration notes that the National Airspace System helps guide 2.9 million airline passengers safely to their destinations every day.
Safety first
While the Jeju Air crash, like others in recent years, happened abroad, Harteveldt said, “This is extremely rare. There are roughly 4,400 737-800s operating right now, and they operate very reliably, day in and day out. And they do so because the global airline industry cooperates extensively when it comes to safety-related matters.”
He explained that while airlines may compete for business, they and aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus all share information on best practices, maintenance procedures and more for safety.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading a team of U.S. investigators, including the FAA and Boeing, in assisting the Republic of Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board with their crash investigation, according to the FAA.
"We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them,” Boeing said in a statement to Paste BN. “We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.”
Can planes survive bird strikes?
Yes.
“It's usually been a bird ingestion in one of the aircraft's engines where this has occurred, and the pilots have always managed to land the plane safely,” Harteveldt said. “If this plane lost both of its engines, the pilots often have very little time to make decisions, and it's very difficult to maneuver the plane, and compromises have to be made.”
One of the most famous examples of bird strikes in both engines was the 2009 U.S. Airways miracle on the Hudson River.
However, again, it’s too soon to know what caused the Jeju Air crash.
Contributing: Reuters
(This story was updated to add new information.)