Despite the recent accident of the Flight AI171 of the airline Air India, precipitated on a university residence after about 1 minute from take -off, The plane remains one of the means of transport safer in the world.
In the air disaster of June 12thout of 242 passengers aboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Only one was found survivorwhile the balance of the total victims it is beyond 300: However, it is the air inconvenience more fatal than the last 10 years.
This tragedy, however, does not mean that traveling by plane is becoming more dangerousindeed: according to the last report issued by Iata (International Air Transport Association), namely the world federation of air transport, in the last 10 years the safety of air flights recorded a remarkable increase.
Specifically, between 2020 and 2024 the average of air accidents it was of 1 flight every 810,000with a clear improvement compared to the period 2011-2015, when the average was 1 in 456,000 flights.
Air accidents, therefore, remain an extremely rare event: last year, out of a total of 40.6 million flights in the world, they were registered only 7 fatal accidents.
The IATA report: the plane between the safest means
In its annual air safety report, the IATA confirmed that the commercial planes they remain one of the safest means of transport in the world: in 2024 they were transported in total 5 billion passengers In the world and only 7 fatal accidents have been recorded, which left 244 victims. Considering the number of flights made, these data mean that they have lost their lives Less than 5 people per 100 million passengers who traveled aboard an airplane.
In the long term, then, the Air accident rate And drastically: in 2005 the air accident rate was 3.72 every million flights, a value that in 2024 fell to 1,13 accidents per million flights. These improvements are mainly due to greater attention and commitment to air safety, but also to management more effective of technological tools and greater security culture.
It must be said, however, that in 2024 there was a small worsening compared to the previous year: from the point of view of safety, the 2023in fact, had been the better year in the history of civil aviation. During those 12 months 37 million flights had been made, with beyond 4.3 billion passengers transported: in total, the airlines have only recorded 30 accidentsof which only a mortal following the crash of a Flight to Nepal which caused the death of 72 people.
In any case, 2024 confirmed itself in line with the previous years: the risk of mortality For a person traveling by plane he has remained at minimum levels (0.06%), confirming themselves below the average of five previous years (0.10%). Just to have a comparison, in Italy in 2024 the mortality rate For Road accidents was of the 51.5%.
Last year, among other things, a record for the number of flights made, which have touched the 41 million.
The most common types of air accidents
Air accidents, therefore, are increasingly serious and less frequent: but what are the More common causes of a plane crash?
In general, the most frequent remain the tail strikes, or the tail shots of the plane that take place when the rear of the aircraft clashes with the track, and the “track excursions”, that is, when a plane leaves the track during the take -off or landing maneuvers. These two phases, therefore, confirm the most important of the entire flight regarding the application of security measures.
Finally, in 2024, they were not registered CFIT accidents (Controlled-Flight-Influish-Terrain), generally the most dangerous and serious in terms of victims: they take place when a aircraft impacts against soilthe sea or another type of obstacle due to a positioning error by the pilot.
