A recent string of plane accidents has raised questions about air safety. However, experts maintain that flying is safe and provided some comfort about three in-flight phenomenon that might seem scarier than they really are.
Last year, issues with Boeing planes already had some travelers on edge, according to an AP-NORC poll from around one year ago. Then, the Jan. 29 crash of a passenger jet and Blackhawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. that killed 67 people shocked the nation this year and put a spotlight on aviation safety.
That’s not the only story making the public worried. Recent incidents include: the discovery of a plane with 10 dead passengers aboard in Alaska, a plane that caught fire on the tarmac in Texas, a plane crash in Philadelphia that killed six people, a “runway incursion” in Arizona and a collision on a Seattle, Wash., tarmac.
USA Today reported this week that staffers at the outlet fielded an “increase in questions from readers about what it means when something that seems unusual happens on their flight,” including a question regarding Reagan Airport. That message was about a plane abruptly pulling back and circling before landing.
Go-arounds and circling
“When we go around, in the moment it’s jarring because you’re not expecting it, so obviously that scares the passengers a lot,” Andrew Henderson, a flight attendant at a major U.S. airline and one of the authors of the Two Guys on a Plane blog, told USA Today’s Zach Wichter. “It could be a number of things: A stick blew across the runway, there’s not enough space between airplanes, it’s just someone saying, ‘Wait, hold on a second.’”
Wichter said that “possibly one of the most common flight disruptions,” is a plane going into a holding pattern. Henderson said that is also very common and shouldn’t be a cause for concern.
CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg explained in an interview with Audacy’s KYW Newsradio why being careful about landing is important, using the Arizona incident as an example.
“In Scottsdale, where when that Lear jet was landing, his main landing gear broke off and it was an uncontrollable situation as he veered off the runway and smashed into another jet, killing one person,” Greenberg said.
Landing at a different airport
Wichter said that flight diversions might be a source of anxiety for travelers. This is when a plane lands somewhere other than its intended destination.
“Weather at the destination is one of the most common causes – high winds or poor visibility can make landing dangerous, for example, so pilots and controllers may decide it’s best to touch down somewhere else,” Wichter reported. “Unexpected runway closures or other operational difficulties also can divert planes.”
Turbulence
Nasty weather can also cause turbulence, a potentially frightening experience for airplane passengers. Audacy’s “Something Offbeat” reached out to two experts – Dr. Kristin Calhoun, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association National Severe Storms Lab in Oklahoma and Rhett Dennerline, a longtime pilot and aeronautical engineer – after lightning struck a plane twice in late 2022.
“It’s actually surprisingly common most of the time. It's not a big deal other than the loud bang, flash, bang you might hear,” Calhoun explained of whether lighting is dangerous to planes. Dennerline also said that turbulence usually isn’t a reason to worry, though he did give some insights about when it might be time to worry.
Overall, experts said that flying is safe.
“Traveling by air is extremely, by far, the safest mode of travel and the fastest,” said Laura Einsetler, a captain at a major U.S. airline and author of the Captain Laura blog, according to Wichter. “When you have two very experienced, highly trained professionals at the front, we are redundant to each other and we put our lives on the line every day to keep everyone safe.”