Hello, fellow travelers,
I'm reaching out for insights on United Airlines' safety, hoping to ease some recent concerns of mine. My message is grounded in genuine curiosity and a desire for reassurance rather than criticism.
A bit about my flying history to give context: My aviation journey began in the early 1980s on a trans-Atlantic flight operated by a DC-10, an aircraft whose safety record left much to be desired. Those days, the anxiety of flying was palpable for me, influenced heavily by the aviation disasters of the time. Over the years, my confidence in air travel grew thanks to improving safety records across the industry. By the 2010s, my fears had all but vanished, supported by statistics showing a significant decline in aviation fatalities.
However, recent incidents involving United Airlines have reignited my apprehension. With five occurrences in just under two weeks, I can't help but ponder if these are mere coincidences or if they suggest deeper issues within the airline, such as cultural, maintenance, or leadership challenges.
I understand that, statistically, air travel remains extremely safe, especially in North America, the EU, and similar regions. Yet, the frequency of these recent events has led to a resurgence of my 1980s flying anxieties, specifically when considering flying with United.
I'm eager to hear your thoughts and experiences. Is my unease unfounded? Your perspectives would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to share your insights.
I appreciate the question and curiosity. I've dealt with similar fears over my life (though not recently).
Here are a couple ways I approach I know fear is not rational, it's an emotional issue - and how I've tried to frame it for myself:
1) The fact that these issues get reported on shows just *how safe it really is*. Hypothetical scenario - imagine the world's best baseball player. Imagine that they never swung and missed, and when they missed once it got reported on in news outlets... it would truly display how uncannily excellent the person was. And we're not even talking about a 'swing and a miss' (an accident) - we're talking about issues that were handled by the crew & and the plane itself, and everyone survived. 40 years ago a lot of these would have in fact been fatalities, but the bar is so much higher. This gives me a lot of comfort that *even when something happens* - it's an incident not an accident now.
2) There's always a chance I can die on an airplane. For me - when I started accepting the fact that
there's always a chance and started to recognize what could
'improve my chances' of living post-travel per se, it really helped quell the fear of 'what if I'm on the one that has an issue.' Instead of trying to zero my chances of death, I tried to view them in relative terms to help quell the part of my brain that always assumes I'm the special one that will defy the odds and be on the wrong plane.
It could happen - much like I lock my doors at night and put rugs outside my shower door so I don't slip. I still could get broken into and I still could fall, but the safest place you can be in the world in terms of survival has been on a US-based commercial airliner every year since 2009, including UA. I have told myself on takeoff that I am safer being in that seat than in my bed multiple times - and it's true. Again - likelihood of me dying via a fall are low, but higher than on a plane.
3) I've sat next to a number of UA and WN pilots over the years and just picked their brains. I've asked a couple if they ever get antsy knowing they're not the ones in control, and the answer always goes something like "Man I know how much work I had to put into sitting up there - so I know there's not some bozo up there even if things go wrong, so I don't even think about it."
4) The Baader-Meinhoff (frequency illusion) is real to us. We hear a word (or see an issue) for the first time we've recognized it, and it appears a lot more. I tell myself this to try and show it's not just airline incidents increasing, it's truly access to information as an above poster said. Just because I've never heard a word before doesn't mean it didn't exist - and just because it popped up in the last 2 months more often doesn't mean people are now using it more, I'm just more cognizant.
FWIW - sorry if this was too long, but I know that fear well and it can be debilitating. Best of luck :-)