bestfriend22uk,

Although there have been several incidents lately, when you consider the number of flights per day, incidents are few and far between. Statistically, air travel is still by far the safest form of transport and the most dangerous part of any flight is the drive to and from the airport. I'll come to the main incidents in a moment, but the media use something called the 'issue attention cycle'; ie anything that is current in the news and will sell papers they'll bring to the front pages. Once the issue has passed by, they don't want to know becasue it's not 'news'. It just so happens aviation is the main topic at the moment so any little incident is highlighted. Many of the day to day incidents that are normally over-looked are being raised at the moment because it makes headlines. For example, a Virgin Atlantic 747-400 (jumbo) performed an emergency landing after take off last week after an engine failure. The media never even mentioned it. The Ryanair decompression today, it's all over the media. The Virgin incident was much more of an event than the Ryanair, but they like to slate Ryanair more than Virgin so that made the news.

There have been three fatal incidents in the last week. The tragic Madrid crash that has been splashed all over the press, the one in the middle east Sunday night and one in south America last week. The Qantas issues, although dramatic were non-events really. It's inevitable that incidents will happen from time to time. When you consider the number of fatal accidents on British roads each year, and the number of non-fatal but serious, if you went of those figures which run in to many thousands, you proably wouldn't drive ever again. Don't let the latest incidents put you off flying. Also consider the media make a meal of minor incidents. For example the Ryanair loss of presurisation today. They use words to overdramatise things and put the fear of god in to people. It sells newspapers and they also get the facts very wrong in many cases. I've made my views on hear known about the media many times. Many of the journalist who cover these stories need to go back to school and find the definition of the words fact and truth. I've heard all sorts of rubbish today such as 'the aircraft plunged to 8,000ft'. That's because it's standard procedure to descend below 10,000ft ASAP where the air contains enough oxygen to breath. The aircraft didn't pummet 8,000ft because of a problem, it was an emergency descent and perfectly normal under the circumstances. The flight crew saved everyones life by doing that but lets not let the truth get in the way of a good story. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a worry to passengers and it did cause minor injuries (that's why you should always wear your seat belt while seated), but the media play on words to dramatise things. Take what they print with a pinch of salt.

If you have any specific worries about your forthcoming flight(s), please air them on here as i'm sure we can help put your mind at ease. I'm flying on friday and I'm looking forward to my flights. I hope you can too and enjoy your holiday.

Darren