North America has now experienced four airplane crashes in the last month that have resulted in 84 fatalities. The most recent crash of the Delta regional jet in Toronto could easily have added to this total, as the wing of the airliner caught fire and flipped over on landing. Miraculously, all 80 souls aboard survived, with only 21 injuries among them, none of which were life-threatening

Amid this spate of troubling airline crashes, there will undoubtedly be calls to introduce additional measures to improve the safety of flying, but this is no guarantee of saving lives. In fact, it could easily have the opposite effect, and this is the dilemma.

The Jan. 29 crash over the Potomac near Reagan National Airport involving a collision between an American Airlines jetliner and an army Blackhawk helicopter grimly illustrates the nature of the problem.

Among the fatalities on the American Airlines flight were seven members of a party of 10 that were returning from a hunting trip in Kansas. Three........

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