In spite of a few crashes airplanes are still one of the safest means of travel. It is just that when a big airplane crashes and kills a lot of people it makes the news, and then people think any airplane they fly on might crash! I found this article in Seattle Times Recreational Travel. This article tells us that this past year, 2012 was the safest year ever for flying since 1945, with fewer people getting killed in airplane crashes. This caught my eye, because I was born in 1945, and the article talks about this last year being the safest for air travel in 67 years, which is how old I am. It sounds terrible to even write my age. I don't feel that old, and I wish I were not, but time moves on, and the calendar does not lie. It is kind of like the camera or the mirror does not lie even thought we don't like what we see!


Travel briefs: Air travel gets safer
2012 was safest year for air travel since 1945, says aviation-research group.
2012 safest year for flying in 67 years
Airfares grew and airline seats shrank, but much more important was the good news about flying in 2012: It was the safest year for air travel since 1945.
The world’s airlines reported only 23 accidents — including passenger and cargo flights — resulting in 475 fatalities last year, compared with the 10-year average of 34 accidents and 773 fatalities a year, according to Aviation Safety Network, a Netherlands research group.
Fewer accidents are the result of several efforts by international-aviation groups to require audits of airlines around the world to comply with safety standards, said Harro Ranter, president of the network.
The worst accident of the year: when an MD-83 jetliner flown by Nigeria-based Dana Air crashed on approach to Lagos, killing 163. In fact, 22 percent of fatal airline accidents last year occurred in Africa, even though it generates only about 3 percent of the world’s airline departures, according to Aviation Safety Network.