Just curious. My wife is unhappy that I occassionally have to fly on a small commuter prop and especially in the winter since they have a higher frequency of accidents due to iceing conditions. How do all of you feel about flying commuter planes?

I accept that the risks are higher in winter.

But compared to the increased risks on the road in winter (in Switzerland or for example on the way to/from Denver to/from Vail before and after the Eisenhower tunnel, or on highway-bridges) I (try to) neglect the increased risks on commuter planes (but I admit not to feel to comfortable).

I think they are relatively safe. There was some concern about certain models not being particularly designed for winter (e.g. Embraer) but I would check the FAA site to see about their history. If you look at the crashes of airplanes you are far more likely to die in a jet. I fly on Dash 8 aircraft and Jetstream 31 a considerable amount, especially in winter when I don't trust being on the highways. I have a database of airdisasters if you want me to send you a copy. I took it off a site and reworked it so I could do different sorts and crosstabs.

I am stuck in the winter flying these little
prop planes if I have go north to places like Albany, NY or Providence, R.I. (where a friend has invited me to spend Christmas with
her and her family.) or south to D-C,
Baltimore, etc.

After conquoring my fear of flying years ago
I have flown in everything from the Concorde
to the new 777 to helicopters and two seaters
over Ayes (SP) ROck, near Alice Springs
Australia.

As Blonde Bomber said, these planes are safe,
though I can understand your wife's concern
Mileage Addict. In a good storm, these planes can rock and roll like a frightening
amusement ride. But if you are buckled in
(always buckle in!) then you should be fine.

Remember the odds of the worse case situation
in flying (the word I will NOT say here) are
very very small. SO my philosophy is that
I go up and I know I will come down. And
find somethign good in everyday (Like PremEx's postings lately!) CATMAN

I fly the prop-jobs all the time from IAH to Little Rock and my take on it, since the ice is not a problem, is that the thunderstorms
really toss one around. But, one has to go for good ol' Mothercompany. Ya gotta go meet the "Big Guy in the Sky" someway.

"Big Guy in the Sky"

when I (only when I don't "jet-set") go to my office, I take a ride with the lift (only 3 floors, no skycrappers in Zurich). People great each other with "Gruess Gott" ("greet good" as you say "good morning" or "how are you today") I answered: "I don't think that lift goes that high today".

I have flown on prop planes during the winter and have not had a problem -- in fact, they are usually delayed since the de-icers are de-icing the larger planes first. I agree -- they are worse to fly during rain and thunder storms.

American moved the "non-winter friendly planes" to southern climates and I think only flys ATRs up north.

stay off the 19 seaters. the bigger ships are fine. the dash 8, made in canada, seems to be particularly good in cold weather. in general, if you don't mind riding in a plane where the pilot makes 18k a year, has less than 2000 hours, and is younger than your oldest kid, its great. as more of the majors contract their commuter service to other carriers, many have begun to us mesa airlines. they really suck, and are completely unreliable. beware, if arriving on time is of some value to you.

Jimboliguy,

I think the ATR has had its share of cold weather problems too. Remember the crash in Indiana on October 31, 1996? The leading edges of an ATR wing iced up and the plane plowed into a field killing all.

I did not think that was an ATR. I thought after that flight they moved those planes out of the "cold weather" area to areas more suitable. However, I could be wrong.....

Jimbo is 180 degrees off. It was a ATR that crashed in Roselawn, IN on Halloween 2 or 3 years ago. That year they put all the SAAB planes into Chicago and put all the ATRs into Miami/Dallas/San Juan. Really was a mess for AA in Chicago that holiday season (36 seats on a SAAB, 72 on an ATR 72!) I lived in Chicago then and remember watching the television coverage of the crash.

Had an interesting experience 2 years ago in Knoxville, TN. City had a snowstorm on a Thursday evening(about 10 inches fell). I was there on a business trip (went without saying that the office was closed). Was scheduled to visit friends 100 miles away in the mountains for the weekend (obviously impossible to get to). The city closed down. Very strange (as a Chicagoan then) seeing 10 ins of snow being churned up on the streets. Anyway, called the travel agent to rebook (originally was on UA) and they said "everything is cancelled except for Northwest--they still seem to be running." It turned out that all the other airlines except for NW had run out of deicing fluid. NW still was operating and we left 10 minutes after scheduled time. Good for NW--all those years at MSP helped!