What are the chances of a plane crashing?

ok so im going to the Czech Republic this summer for a school exchange thing. anyway i was wondering, what are the chances of a plane crashing? i know it's unlikely, but i've heard of planes crashing before, and i know that not a lot of people survive. so the flight is from pittsburgh to JFK to Prague, a total of about 10 hours give or take half an hour. can you help me with this because i'm terrified of planes and i need some reassurance.|||you have a greater chance of crashing on the drive to the airport than having a accident in a plane.|||Since 1978, over 2.5 BILLION passengers have traveled on the airlines world wide. This represents about 15 million individual flights. In that 30 year span of time there have only been a few dozen airline crashes where fatalities occurred, and only a few thousand people have been killed or seriously injured. Therefore, your chances of being a passenger on a fatal flight is perhaps one in a million.





Statistically, you have a greater chance of being killed on the ground by a bolt of lightning. To put it in perspective, roughly 30,000 people have been killed in car accidents in the USA in 2008. That's the equivalent of two Boeing 747's loaded with passengers crashing and killing everyone on board, each and every week of the year. You should be more concerned about the car trip to the airport than any of your flights. Ralax, don't worry. Flying can be fun if you let it.|||The chances of a plane crashing are the chances of you winning the lottery 5 times in a row. Airplanes are one of the safest forms of travel; you have more of a risk driving than flying. Airplane travel has improved greatly over the past years, in security and passenger safety. All pilots take a class given by the FAA when they get their license discussing what to do in any case of emergency and train often for those cases. Not to mention planes have emergency boats and a good glide ratio if they are still over land.





If your worried about it crashing and people not surviving, look at the Denver crash, where everyone escaped.|||You have a greater chance of finding a briefcase full of money than the plane crashing.. if it will make you feel better read this





"How to survive a plane crash"


http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Plane-C鈥?/a>





its far from being a perfect guide but it should give you a general idea of how to survive if you do suddenly take a nose dive..|||For reassurance I'd suggest you consider the safety record of some airlines. Southwest for example flies about 500 airplanes, each one does at least 5 flights per day every day. Thats 2500 per day or about one million flights per year. They have been flying for more than 30 years and have never had a passenger fatality. How much safer can you be?|||there were actually two plane crashes sat and not one person died. The fact of it is plane are built to protect passangers in the unlikley event of a crash.|||I've been a pilot for five years now. No crashes, not even a close call. We go through lots of training - and I do mean LOTS!!





One of the first answerers put it well - you stand a better chance of a crash in a car on the way to the airport than on the plane itself...|||There is a car accident every 7.5 seconds. A plane... not nearly as much. Your chance of dying in a plane accident is 1 in 11,000,000. And your chance of dying in a car accident is 1 in 5000. Flying in safer honey!|||Depends on the pilot and the aircraft. Commercial aviation... incredibly low.





Prague was even a beautiful place when communism ran things, I bet it's just amazing now.|||very very unlikely|||dont go, that specific plane will crash, i had a vision, go by boat or risk death|||lol dont be





it can barley happen











FUTURE PILOT|||you should read this articles:





http://www.fearlessflight.com/airplane-d鈥?/a>





Airplane Disasters and Plane Crash Statistics





The truth about flying safety


The majority of the people who step onto a commercial airliner have no knowledge of how this big capsule with wings can get off the ground. Naturally their greatest concern (especially for the fearful flyer) is "what if something goes wrong and we are 33,000 feet off the ground?"





Consider the statistics below:


Probability of being killed in an airplane accident vs. other causes of death





Your chances of being involved in an aircraft accident are about 1 in 11 million. On the other hand, your chances of being killed in an automobile accident are 1 in 5000. Statistically, you are at far greater risk driving to the airport than getting on an airplane. However, the perception is that you have more control over your fate when you are in your car than as a passenger traveling on an airplane. Experience shows otherwise, considering that over 50,000 people are killed on the highways every year.





An article in Time magazine (12/4/06) reminds us that "more than 500 times as many people die on U.S. roads as in airline accidents." The article "Why We Worry About the Things We Shouldn't" further goes on to give some startling statistics about the kind of accidents that kill Americans. The data is from 2003, the most recent year for which data is available. According to the article, if you're a bike rider, a dog lover, or a bath taker then you're at far greater risk of being killed in an accident than you are from riding in a commercial aircraft. Don't forget the other kinds of accidents that killed more people than aircraft crashes--stinging from bees/wasps, slipping on ice or snow, choking on food, or falling down stairs or off ladders. It's a dangerous world we live in! And please don't forget the 600 Americans who are killed every year from falling out of bed.





The Time article goes on to talk about the fear of flying and that for many it's a control issue.


"We similarly misjudge risk if we feel we have some control over it, even if it's an illusory sense. The decision to drive instead of fly is the most commonly cited example, probably because it's such a good one. Behind the wheel, we're in charge; in the passenger seat of a crowded airline, we might as well be cargo. So white-kuckle flyers routinely choose the car...The most white-knuckle time of all was post-Sept. 11 when even confident flyers took to the roads. Not surprisingly, from October through December 2001 there were 1,000 more highway fatalities than in the same period the year before (in part because there were simply more cars around)...the '9-11 effect produced a third again as many fatalities as the terrorist attacks,' says David Ropeik, an independent risk consultant and a former professor at the Harvard School of Public Health."|||If you fly on a private aircraft, the odds are actually somewhat high.





If you fly on a Commercial Airliner, the odds are EXTREMELY low.


Your way more likely to skid off the runway or run into problems on GROUND than in the air.


(which is the ONLY thing you ever hear about with airliners....things happen on the ground, but rarely does anyone ever die)











But your concerned about the air.











I just read a statistic on MSNBC and they said in the past 10 years, only 2 people have died on american commercial airliners.


And those 2 deaths werent even crash related.





So the risk, is literally zero statistically.....there Havent been any recorded crashes of commercial aircraft in the past decade, or ever.








Now i'll tell you from experience in the aviation field.


Commercial jets have 4 engines.





So you could lose 2 engines and STILL land fine(they are designed this way. You could literally only have power on ONE side of the plane, and you can still easily land the plane.








But if you were to lose Complete power at 33,000feet, your toast.


But like i said, if this happened, the pilots can switch over to secondary batteries and restart the engines.


(and its virtually impossible to just lose power at that altittude, which is why theres multiple electrical systems built into the plane)