Should I get on an airplane?
Since Christmas Day, four commercial jets have crashed, killing nearly 300 people and injuring many others. Harrowing images — of the explosion over the Potomac after a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a plane, and of a Delta flight upside-down on the runway in Toronto — have people spooked about their next trip. The US National Transportation Safety Board’s report of over a hundred accidents so far in 2025 is not helping.
But despite it all, experts maintain that yes, it is still safe to fly.
Statistically, it’s safer to fly now than at any point since the 1960s thanks to advances in aircraft manufacturing, more sophisticated weather imaging, and tighter safety regulations. You could fly twice a day for roughly 2,500 years before you run even a small risk of getting into a fatal aviation accident.
Though driving provides the illusion of control, taking a road trip is much more dangerous than flying. “Your chance of getting into a fatal car crash at some point in your life is a little bit less than 1 in 100. It’s about a 1 percent chance,” said Darryl Campbell, aviation reporter for The Verge.
Campbell told Sean Rameswaram on Today, Explained that the number of........
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