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  • Two recent flights, using the Boeing 737 max eight aircraft crashed

  • due to similar altitude fluctuations, killing everyone on board.

  • We tend to hear that flying is extremely safe

  • But why do some planes crash and is there a safest seat that you can choose or a

  • safest time of day to fly? Commercial flights are incredibly safe.

  • In 2017, there was one fatal accident for every 16 million flights.

  • But small private planes crash at rates similar to cars.

  • The majority of the accidents are due to the pilot losing control or controlled flight into terrain,

  • meaning the pilot didn't see the ground a mountain or another obstacle until it was too late.

  • In general amateur pilots have significantly less training and looser rules than commercial pilots.

  • For commercial flights, according to the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents archives, there were

  • 1,182 accidents between the years 2010 to 2018.

  • The reason for these accidents can be broken down into four main categories:

  • human error, weather, mechanical error, and sabotage.

  • Human error is the cause of the majority of crashes.

  • Using data from 1,020 commercial flight accidents these errors were

  • predominantly skill based errors and decision errors.

  • Skill based errors include not conducting proper visual scans,

  • accidentally turning on or off switches, and not complying with checklists.

  • A pre-flight checklist is a list of tasks to be performed by the pilot and crew before takeoff and this can significantly reduce risk.

  • A 2014 crash that killed seven people could have been prevented if they had completed the

  • pre-flight checklist and released a piece of equipment, the gust lock, before takeoff.

  • Decision errors are conscious choices that result in poor outcomes.

  • For example, once the pilots of that same flight realized the problem with the gust locks,

  • they unsuccessfully tried to disengage the equipment, instead of stopping the flight.

  • Human error can be minimized with adequate sleep.

  • For example, a study of 435 pilots found that 90(00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,620 experienced fatigue and another study found an increased probability of

  • accidents as the duty time increased. A separate study of American plane accidents from 1982 to

  • 2013 found that a quarter were related to weather. The most fatal weather conditions are

  • precipitation, low cloud cover, and fog all of which impact visibility.

  • The most lethal months to travel are December and January.

  • One of the deadliest crashes occurred in 1977,

  • when two Boeing 747s collided into one another on the runway during a period of thick fog; 583 people died.

  • Other studies have found that these weather conditions often involve pilots pushing the aircraft and themselves

  • beyond their limit; for example, Scud running, where a pilot lowers altitude to avoid flying in the clouds, or get-home-itis,

  • where the pilot desires to get home quickly and overrides their sound decision-making.

  • Mechanical errors are involved in 23% of fatal accidents.

  • The main problem being engine failure.

  • However, this is far less likely to occur in large jet aircrafts than in smaller propeller planes.

  • For example, an Air France Airbus crashed killing all

  • 228 passengers and crew due to a frozen pitot tube.

  • Pitot tubes are sensors on the side of the plane, used to measure

  • airspeed but when they froze over, they gave inconsistent readings.

  • Not knowing the speed of your plane can result in deadly outcomes where you might under-speed, which can lead to stalling, or

  • over-speed, where the aircraft will start to break apart as the structure isn't meant for such high speeds.

  • Finally, the most unlikely cause of a crash is sabotage, accounting for 7% of airplane fatalities.

  • These do include the September 11th terrorist attacks. However, these types of incidents were the highest in China.

  • Is there anything you can do to increase your chance of survival if you were in a crash?

  • A 2007 article by Popular Mechanics analyzed every commercial plane crash in the United States since 1971

  • and found that those in the back of the plane had a 69% chance of survival compared to a

  • 49% chance when you're sitting at the front.

  • In 2012, an uncrewed Boeing 727 filled with crash test dummies found similar results.

  • The front wasn't the best place to sit.

  • This is why we have the black box, a highly protected box

  • resistant to fire and explosion that records data and cockpit audio, and it's located at the back of the plane.

  • This data has been very helpful in linking the tragic Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 to the Indonesian Lion Air flight 610,

  • where in both cases altitudes fluctuated sharply.

  • Learning from these black boxes helps minimize these horrifying events and, though devastating,

  • it is important to remember that air travel remains our safest means of transportation.

  • Thank you so much for watching.

  • You can click over there to watch our video what would happen if your plane door burst open mid-flight?

  • It's horrifying. Also, if you want to keep up to date on the latest science news and scientific takes on controversial topics,

  • make sure to check out our podcast sidenote. We put links over there and in the description as well.

  • Our latest episode was about vaccines.

  • Make sure you subscribe for more science videos every Thursday and we'll see you next week.

Two recent flights, using the Boeing 737 max eight aircraft crashed

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