Why a United Airlines mayday isn't as scary as it sounds

USA Today

a day ago

When a United Airlines flight issued a mayday call shortly after departure, passengers onboard were doubtlessly scared. One of the Boeing 787's engines had failed, and the plane was forced to return to Washington Dulles International Airport, rather than continuing over the Atlantic to Munich, where it was bound that Friday evening.
Fortunately, the plane landed safely, and no injuries were reported – a testament to effective pilot training and the overall safety of air travel.
Any time a plane suffers a flight-disrupting incident, it has the chance to become front-page news, which is perhaps a sign of just how safe flying is.
Scores of fatal car accidents go unreported by the national media every day, but a flight that returns to its departure airport, even if no one is hurt, seems worthy of our attention.
Flying remains, by far, the safest way to travel in the U.S., as proven by the 2024 Transportation Statistics Report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
'Transportation incidents for all modes claimed 44,546 lives in 2022, of which all but 2,032 involved highway motor vehicles. Preliminary estimates for 2023 suggest a further decline in fatalities,' the report says. 'There were no deaths from crashes on large commercial airlines in 2023, but several hundred deaths occurred in crashes in general aviation, commuter air, and air taxi services.'
In January, an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet over the Potomac River, killing 67 people between the two aircraft. It was an absolute tragedy, but also a statistical anomaly, and the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in U.S. airspace in nearly 15 years.
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Airplanes are also designed with safety and redundancy in mind. The 787 that operated United's diverted flight on Friday is capable of flying for hours on a single engine. So, while pilots prioritized getting the plane back on the ground expeditiously, the aircraft itself would have been capable of reaching a runway much farther afield if needed.
Pilots and cabin crews, too, are trained to keep safety at the forefront, and are almost always credited with assuring the best possible outcome when something goes awry.
So, passengers should continue flying without too much concern. As the adage goes, you're much more likely to get injured on your drive to the airport than you are in the sky.