Greater Focus On Details Credited, As Well As Sheer Luck

A 10-year timeline mandated by the White House commission to reduce the rate of fatal accidents on domestic airlines -- following two such high-profile accidents in 1996 -- ended Sunday, and safety advocates note a significant decline in such incidents.

While the total reduction did not reach the 80 percent called for by the White House, the industry did attain a 65 percent reduction in fatal accident rates in the past 10 years. That amounts to one fatal accident in about 4.5 million departures, reports The New York Times. In 1997, the rate was one fatal crash for every two million departures.

"This is the golden age of safety, the safest period, in the safest mode, in the history of the world," said former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey in her September 11 speech before the Washington Aero Club.

A key reason for the improvement lies in efforts by American carriers, as well as many foreign airlines, to track and eliminate little problems, before they become larger ones that could lead to fatal crashes.

(Though not cited in reports, recent examples of this philosophy could be the quick reaction throughout the industry to problems identified with slat track bolts on 737s... or, the main landing gear on Bombardier Q400 turboprops -- Ed.)  

Another factor is, well, luck... as accident are, by definition, random events. But increased vigilence -- and adoption of leading-edge technologies -- have helped airline travel become safer than ever.

"It's not one thing. It's a series of small things," said John Cox, former safety representative for the Air Line Pilots Association.

There remains much work to be done, though. Safety advocates are disturbed by increasing rates of runway incursions, in particular.

"Probably the biggest threat of all, today, many, many people agree, is not so much a midair collision as a runway incursion incident," said Richard Healing, an aviation safety expert and former member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.dot.gov