Is flying Statistically safer than driving?

Driving vs. Flying By the Numbers The overall fatality risk is 0.23% — you would need to fly every day for more than 10,000 years to be in a fatal plane crash. On the other hand, the chances of dying in a car collision are about 1 in 101, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).



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You may have heard that flying is safer than travelling in a car by a wide margin, and that is absolutely true. Flying is safer than ever, and the statistics bear that out. Overall, you have a one in 5,000 chance of dying in a car accident and only a one in 7.9 million chance of dying in a plane crash.

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Your odds of being in an accident during a flight is one in 1.2 million, and the chances of that accident being fatal are one in 11 million. Your chances of dying in a car crash, conversely, are one in 5,000. Want answers to more key questions in aviation? Check out the rest of our guides here!

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Flying under general aviation (GA) is not safer than driving. Statistically, GA's safety record is closer to the safety record of operating motorcycles. It just isn't as safe as airline flying.

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September 24, 2023 A single-engine Beechcraft BE23 crashed in a field near Roger M Dreyer Memorial Airport in Gonzales, Texas, around 7:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, September 24. Only the pilot was on board. The FAA and NTSB will investigate.

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Takeoff and landing are widely considered the most dangerous parts of a flight.

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Top 10 safest airlines to fly on right now
  • Delta Airlines. Major crashes in the last 50 years: 7. ...
  • American Airlines. Major crashes in the last 50 years: 14. ...
  • International: Qatar Airways. Major crashes in the last 50 years: 0. ...
  • International: Etihad Airways. Major crashes since operations started: 0.


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Your chances of being involved in a fatal plane crash are incredibly small – around 1 in 11 million, according to Harvard researchers. While your odds of being in a plane accident are about 1 in 1.2 million, survivability rates are about 95.7% – so the odds are with you no matter how you look at it.

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Of these 24 million hours, 6.84 of every 100,000 flight hours yielded an airplane crash, and 1.19 of every 100,000 yielded a fatal crash.

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This includes those with cardiac failure, recent myocardial infarction (heart attack) or stroke, angina (chest pain) at rest, heart rate or rhythm disorders, uncontrolled arterial hypertension, severe anemia, sickle-cell anemia, acute mental disorders, epilepsy, and any serious or contagious diseases.

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As technology in the industry has advanced to have passenger safety as a principal consideration, airplane seats can withstand 16 times gravity's force. These seats are also fireproof and do not emit toxic fumes if they were to catch on fire.

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Ryanair has never had a fatal crash In its 37 years of existence, there have been zero passenger or crew member fatalities.

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Flying Is Only Getting Safer Over Time Global flight accident rates have been steadily declining over the years for a number of reasons, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

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On average, there are 1,662 plane crashes per year. There are roughly 938 small plane crashes per year (planes under 12,500 lbs). Taxiing planes leads to 54 accidents, 4 deaths, and 24 accidents per year. There are up to 90,000,000 flight hours logged per year globally.

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Research indicates that 85% of all aviation accidents and serious incidents involve human error, and over 60% of these accidents have human factors as their primary cause.

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The Cessna 152 was involved in nearly 800 more crashes than any other aircraft. In terms of fatalities, Boeing aircraft occupy four of the top five ? the Boeing 737-200 has killed the most people at 906 deaths, followed by the original Boeing 737, the Boeing 777-206 and the Boeing MD-82.

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The United States' last fatal accident was in 2009, when Colgan Air flight 3407 crashed while flying from Newark to Buffalo, killing everyone onboard. The NTSB investigation declared it to be pilot error, citing pilot fatigue as a factor.

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The truth is that the majority of aviation accidents happen on the runway during takeoff or landing, not while the airplane is cruising in the air. Three reasons why airport runway accidents are the most common of all aviation accidents: Takeoffs and landings are when planes are closest to the ground.

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