Recent weeks and months have been a scary time for people who travel by air. At the time of writing, since the Malaysian Airlines flight was brought down by a missile strike in Ukraine killing 298 people, two more planes have gone down with a total of 174 people on board.
However, if you are due to fly off on your summer holidays, you shouldn’t really be too worried.
According to the latest figures from the United Nations Civil Aviation Organisation, there were nearly 40 million commercial departures worldwide in 2010 yet there were only 12 crashes of planes carrying more than 18 people and only three of them resulted in more than 99 fatalities.
Those deaths were an unspeakable tragedy for the people who lost their lives and the families they left behind.
But, in the cold light of day, they are a tiny fraction of the 30 million who had uneventful journeys. Statistically, you are much more likely to have an accident driving your car to the shops. Bon voyage and safe driving as well!