https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdRHU3Xl4yY
Some people out there have a great fear of flying, and if that's you, then I might not watch the video posted above. However, for those folks out interested in how-to and explainer videos, this clip explains exactly which parts of the flight are most common for fatal accidents. Although these aircraft accidents are not very common, a large portion of them happen at certain times during the flight and for an understandable reason.
For each flight there are eight different phases: Takeoff, initial climb, climb, cruise, descent, initial approach, final approach, and landing. So, which one of these sections has the highest probability for accidents?
Well, the takeoff and initial climb only take up about two percent of the flight, but it accounts for 14 percent of all the accidents. The longest duration of the flight is spent in the cruising phase, but only 11 percent of accidents happen during this time. Can you see where this is going? The most dangerous part of the flight happens to be during the final approach and landing. It is only four percent of the flight, but it accounts for a whopping 49 percent of fatal accidents.
One of the reasons for this is because of how close the plane is to the ground. Compared to when an airplane is at cruising altitude, pilots have an extremely small window of time to react to problems when they are coming in for landing. The other reason is the fact that they're trying to slow their speed down. It's much easier to make a plane fly properly when you're taking off and pushing forward, rather than slowing down and gliding onto the landing strip. Takeoffs may not be near as accident-prone as landings, but they can still be dangerous, because of the rapid increase in speed and possibility for rejected takeoffs.
That being said, don't let these numbers scare you. Statistically, flying is still the safest way to travel around the country, and millions use these aircrafts each day. Even on the chance that something did go wrong during your flight, they say you'd still have a 95.7 percent chance of surviving the flight. I'll take those odds.