What is the safest means of transport? | Only vehicle

What is the safest means of transport?

Transport is something which is very important in our lives. We need a means of transport for going to school or offices, going to different cities or places, or getting things transported from one area to another. Even the products which we are getting from shops are transported. Inland shipping transports goods within the same country. Goods are also transported from different countries. Transport is necessary for trade, commerce, and many other things.

The means of transport are of four types:

• Roadways
• Railways
• Waterways
• Airways

Our question for discussion today: Which among the means of transport is most safe?

Of course, all means of transport are safe and are in the constant growth of safety. Believe it or not, the most safest means of transport is by air. Airways are the most safest means of transport when compared to all the other means. Many would not agree on this statement. This post brings to light that air travel is the most safest among all.

Possibilities of air accidents:

Air accidents are commonly very rare. Every air incident that has happened in history has been the result of things going through all layers of possible safety. This is illustrated in the form of the Swiss Cheese Diagram. In Swiss Cheese diagrams, you will have a certain number of cheese slices arranged parallelly. Every cheese slices would have holes but not at the same places as the other ones. Lines, which represent accidents are passed through the cheese holes. Most rays at some places get blocked. Very small amount of rays are able to pass through all the slices (layers of protection against accidents) when the holes are straight through.

This same relation is applied to air travel. It has the most number of safety layers that the probability of air accidents have to pass through in order to express itself. All modes of transport have safety layers but air travel has the most number of safety layers than the others. For example, in order for an aircraft to navigate, the GPS is primarily used. In case the GPS fails, you will have the IRS to assist you. After the IRS, you will have standby systems to help you. If that fails too, you can have radio navigation stations to help you. If all of the above fails, ATC will guide you by giving vectors. More than that, pilots are also trained to deal with situations like these in the best possible way.

Reasons for air accidents:

The reasons for air accidents is simply because of certain minute unchecked abnormal criteria. Small criteria occurred in some part would eventually grow large. These criteria should have been checked and resolved by then. If unchecked, these criteria grow even more which turns out to cause an accident. Most of the times, pilots are able to recover from these accidents and get everyone onboard to safety. Accidents also occur due to pilot error but due the presence of the layers of protection, it will not express itself in most cases.

Moreover, the FAA and its regulations contribute to making air travel more safer today. Air travel is constantly growing safer every day. The regulations and rules include periodic checking and maintenance of aircraft, airworthiness checks, and increased pilot training to deal with things correctly. Cabin crew are also trained to evacuate passengers to safety from the plane within a certain amount of time. It should be the passenger's role to listen to safety instructions properly during every flight. Air travel has learned a lot with reference to previous accidents. All these factors contribute to air travel's safety and reliability.

Aircraft Design:

The design features of aircraft also add to the overall safety of air travel. Instead of a single hydraulic system, you have three or four hydraulic systems on all aircraft as a backup. All these hydraulic systems have independent power sources with which they are powered. Mainly the two engines of the aircraft power the hydraulic systems. If for example, both the engines fail (an extremely unlikely case), a third hydraulic system is necessary by law which is powered by the auxiliary power unit (APU). Even if the APU doesn't work then, you will have RAM's (Ram Air Turbines) which deploys and acts like a windmill to power the hydraulic system. In aircraft like the Boeing 747 which has four engines, there are four different independently working hydraulic systems for all flight control surfaces to move. This is why quad-jets are very safe. Instead of a single way of disconnecting the autopilot, you have atleast two different ways. The key point of aircraft design is always redundancy. The more the redundancy, the more safer the aircraft.

Real life proof:

Now, it is time to reveal to you a real life incident which proves that air travel is safe. In the United States, an incident commonly referred to as 9 11 occurred on September 11, 2001 where four airliners were deliberately crashed by terrorists on board on the same day. Due to this incident, air travel came to a standstill in the United States. Fewer people preferred to travel by air. Many employees were asked by airlines to stay at homes. This incident is one of the most expensive accident in the United States. Most of the people preferred to travel by road. Road travel after this incident caused more accidents than ever. The figures obtained for road accidents are astonishing to see. Nowadays, with the presence of the covid-19 disease, airlines are battling hard to give passengers a safe ride. This is always a good sign. It is always necessary for passengers to follow covid-19 appropriate measures whilst flying.

Why does air travel seem unsafe?

Even though you probably are convinced that air travel is safe by now, you would still feel that air travel is unsafe. This is all because of the media. Due to the truth that air accidents are very rare, the media takes advantage of this and deliver news about these incidents which attract a lot of people. People would get shocked because of this. As you all know, road accidents are very common. The media does not show the people news about road accidents since they are very common. The media also tries to give its own perception of the accident without actually knowing the real cause. Speculations made are wrong most of the time. Media always tries to interest people on new information rather than just show them information which occur regularly. People should not get misguided by the media.

For commuting between two distant important cities, travelling by air is more safer than driving to them by your car.

 

Advice to nervous flyers:

There are many nervous flyers out there. It is always important to know that the aircraft, pilots, and cabin crew on the flight are there to prevent accidents from happening. There is simply nothing to worry about. There is not a specific time when air travel is safe nor is there a specific seat on the plane that is safer. Always try to be calm during the flight. Engage yourself with some hobbies like reading a book, playing video games, sight-seeing outside the window, or filming the views. Who would have through in the early periods that man could fly? Travelling by air is a miracle and remember that each one of your flights are special.