maybe the differences between "then" (like the '70s) and now is that we have a much better idea (for better or for worse) of how everything "works"
when a plane went down in the past - it was "pilot error" or terrorism - meaning linked to a single individual (ok, maybe small group) but now we are sensing and being told (which is probably true) that such events (near misses, for example) are part of systemic issues that are harder to understand from an individual risk and fear perspective?