Thai Airways In Top 10 Worlds Most Dangerous Airlines

[bangkokcitylimits]

source

[MSingh]

Great, thanks for that..

[roamer]

Very much depends on how you compile the statistics. Personally the thing that concerns me about flying is my belief that when your number is up then its up. Problem with that is what if its not my number that's up but the guy in the seat in front of me ?

[nisakiman]

Well, they do say the 80s and 90s. They may have improved their record by now, statistically!

Problem with that is what if its not my number that's up but the guy in the seat in front of me ?

Yes, that's one of life's great conundrums, isn't it!

[LaoPo]

TOP 10: MOST DANGEROUS AIRLINES

1: Cubana Airlines - Cuba: - Completed flights: 320,000 Fatal accidents: 8 - Deaths: 404

2: China Airlines - Taiwan: - Completed flights: 910,000 Fatal accidents: 6 - Deaths: 763

3: Iran Air - Iran: - Completed flights: 970,000 Fatal accidents: 5 - Deaths: - 708

4: Philippine Airlines - Philippines: Completed flights: 1.18 million Fatal accidents: 6 - Deaths: 107

5: Kenya Airways - Kenya: - Completed flights: 450,000 Fatal accidents: 2 - Deaths: 283

6: Egyptair - Egypt: - Completed flights: 1.07 million Fatal accidents: 4 - Deaths: 402

7: Pakistan Int'l Airlines -Pakistan: - Completed flights: 1.43 million Fatal accidents: 5 - Deaths: 440

8: Avianca - Colombia: - Completed flights: 1.47 million Fatal accidents: 4 - Deaths: 500

9: Thai Airways - Thailand: Completed flights: 1.98 million Fatal accidents: 4 - Deaths: 352

10: Garuda - Indonesia: - Completed flights: 2 million Fatal accidents: 4 - Deaths: 431

http://uk.askmen.com...irlines_10.html

LaoPo

Edited November 29, 2010 by LaoPo

[thanew]

Asia's quality shines through again

[geriatrickid]

Imagine the frequent flyer alliance with some of those airlines.

Who would fky on Garuda, Iran Air or PIA?

[Patong Bob]

Whhen I worked in the Middle East we called PIA "Perhaps I arrive".

AFAIK Qantas is the only airline never to have had a fatality and El Al (Israel) have never lost a passenger in an aviation incident.

[roamer]

Imagine the frequent flyer alliance with some of those airlines.

Who would fky on Garuda, Iran Air or PIA?

Err me actually. A couple of months ago on Garuda and last year on PIA (no real alternative). Actually China Airlines way worse and lots of TV'ers fly it.

[dave111223]

Actually makes me feel better about flying when i see the stats...even the "most dangerous airline in the world" (cuba air) has only 8 crashes out of 320,000 flights...

Ok sucks if your in one of the 8, but those are pretty good odds of not dying.

[IanForbes]

And then there are some of us who ride motorcycles in Thai traffic. Or, trust Thai bus drivers. I think it's safer to fly.

[Hawkup2000]

A very good point Ian. People take a motorcycle taxi or minibus without a hesitation while moaning about air safety...

Edited November 30, 2010 by Hawkup2000

[siam2007]

Imagine the frequent flyer alliance with some of those airlines.

Who would fky on Garuda, Iran Air or PIA?

I fly on Garuda frequently and they are excellent nowadays and have a great safety-attitude.

they are quickly becoming one of the main players in Asia, and for some reason, have been invited to join SKYTEAM.

to mention them in the same phrase with PIA or IRAN AIR is not appropriate.

on the other hand, who would fly ORIENT THAI ?

[LaoPo]

Imagine the frequent flyer alliance with some of those airlines.

Who would fky on Garuda, Iran Air or PIA?

I fly on Garuda frequently and they are excellent nowadays and have a great safety-attitude.

they are quickly becoming one of the main players in Asia, and for some reason, have been invited to join SKYTEAM.

to mention them in the same phrase with PIA or IRAN AIR is not appropriate.

on the other hand, who would fly ORIENT THAI ?

It's about the COMPLETED NUMBER OF FLIGHTS in combination with the NUMBER OF FATAL ACCIDENTS and the DEATH TOLL

in Garuda's case it's:

10: Garuda - Indonesia: - Completed flights: 2 million - Fatal accidents: 4 - Deaths: 431

LaoPo

[siam2007]

Imagine the frequent flyer alliance with some of those airlines.

Who would fky on Garuda, Iran Air or PIA?

I fly on Garuda frequently and they are excellent nowadays and have a great safety-attitude.

they are quickly becoming one of the main players in Asia, and for some reason, have been invited to join SKYTEAM.

to mention them in the same phrase with PIA or IRAN AIR is not appropriate.

on the other hand, who would fly ORIENT THAI ?

It's about the COMPLETED NUMBER OF FLIGHTS in combination with the NUMBER OF FATAL ACCIDENTS and the DEATH TOLL

in Garuda's case it's:

10: Garuda - Indonesia: - Completed flights: 2 million - Fatal accidents: 4 - Deaths: 431

LaoPo

then the member who commented about Garuda would have to write:

"who would fly on THAI AIR, garuda, iran Air or PIA", as THAI has almost identical stats as Garuda. Plus Thai has an older fleet than Garuda.

But I am sure, almost nobody who posted here or reads this, would consider THAI to be a "dangerous" Airline which is a threat to your personal safety.

[edwinchester]

If you flew everyday with Thai then statistically it would take over a thousand years to be involved in a fatal accident.

Still too expensive mind.

Oh yes and I booked a flight with Egyptair this evening, in at #6.......DOH!

[Flatouthruthefog]

<br />Whhen I worked in the Middle East we called PIA "Perhaps I arrive".<br /><br />AFAIK Qantas is the only airline never to have had a fatality and El Al (Israel) have never lost a passenger in an aviation incident.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Years before it was known as Pray It Arrives, along with Try Walking Across and Finnish Intoxicated Navigators Never Arrive In Rehabilitation. My Grandad recalled Better On A Camel and my Dad once flew (safely) with Such A Bloody Experience Never Again.

When Garuda was going through a good patch, my chums in Amsterdam claimed that name was really initials for Growth And Redevelopment Under Dutch Administration. But they went quiet later.

I believe that QANTAS has never lost a plane (tho they paid a fortune to repair the one that ended up on a tee at the Don Muang golf course), while the predecessors of BOAC, British Imperial Airways, never lost a passenger(ie had a fatal).

On a more serious note, does anyone know if BA and British Aerospace still issue the 'no fly' list to their employees? Some 16 years ago it came out about 3 times a year and was an update naming which airlines (in their opinion) were too unsafe to fly. You could be fired if you flew them, even on your hols!

Fascinating and of course top secret. But an Aerospace man got a little tipsy in a bar at Thapae Gate about 15 years back and told me that - THEN - both Garuda and PIA were on the list, plus EVERY Chinese airline except EVA and every Russian airline.

Lastly, 2 very experienced specialist pilots 'resting' at Chiang Mai airport have told me that in their view, numbers of airline accidents per take-off-and-landing were the only stats that mattered. Not per air miles flown. Once you're up there, you're relatively safe. It's the bumpy bits at the beginning and end that matter - for both men and machines.

[edwinchester]

Actually makes me feel better about flying when i see the stats...even the "most dangerous airline in the world" (cuba air) has only 8 crashes out of 320,000 flights...

Ok sucks if your in one of the 8, but those are pretty good odds of not dying.

Years ago one of my friends was telephone engineer out in some Russian republic, Georgia I think. To get around once they used some old crate of a plane and it turned into a nightmare flight. On getting home he found out that particular airline had a fatal crash every 300 flights

[bkkjames]

Where does Af rank, between the concorde and last year's missing A330, surely they should get a bump?

[roamer]

Lastly, 2 very experienced specialist pilots 'resting' at Chiang Mai airport have told me that in their view, numbers of airline accidents per take-off-and-landing were the only stats that mattered. Not per air miles flown. Once you're up there, you're relatively safe. It's the bumpy bits at the beginning and end that matter - for both men and machines.

True but.... for example the Thai crash at Surat Thani 1998 ? Crashed on 3rd attempt at landing in a storm. I stand to be corrected but I think that a Western pilot would have diverted earlier. I seem to remember also that Korean Air took a look at their recruitment policies after a series of crashes, the result of which was that too many of their pilots were ex-military and inclined to take more risks than civilian trained pilots.

[Forethat]

As someone has already mentioned: you can play around with stats any way you want...

It should be noted that the numbers used in the statistics not only includes fatal accidents involving a flight - only an airplane. In the case of Thai Airways the numbers include a plane exploding while on the ground (if I'm not incorrect the cause of explosion was never concluded, but suspicions pointed to an A/C unit close to the wing tank). The numbers also include people who died after getting infected with TWAR on a THAI flight (five or six of them, I cant remember).

A more appropriate set of statistics to use when making a list of most dangerous airlines would be something that includes maintenance records, pilot training and incidents. For instance, economy and competition is forcing cost savings which includes decreased maintenance. There are several cases where flights have had severe incidents or even gone down due to skipped (Alaska 261, 88 casualties ) or faulty maintenance (Japan 123, 520 casualties). There are also examples where massive accidents are caused by external agents (Scandinavian 686, 110 casualties) or Air Traffic Control.

Most crashes are caused by a combination by human factors and technical errors, but the human factor is the paramteter which has by far the greatest potential to really co** up things (Tenerife 1977, 583 casualties).

My greatest concern with Thai Airways is the ageing fleet, I'd rather rate airline safety using a combination of fleet age, maintenance records and corporate balance sheet.

[dantilley]

3 Star Alliance members in the list.... mostly irrelevant stats though if they're counting incidents from over 20 years ago.

[CPH]

The number of accidents depends a lot on which airports the flights go to. For instance in The Philippines there are several airports in regions with mountains and very bad landing conditions due to bad weather, old or no radar etc. This goes for many airports in Indonesia as well. On the contrary airports in Europe and the US are very high standard and safe.

[thaihome]

...On a more serious note, does anyone know if BA and British Aerospace still issue the 'no fly' list to their employees? Some 16 years ago it came out about 3 times a year and was an update naming which airlines (in their opinion) were too unsafe to fly. You could be fired if you flew them, even on your hols!

Fascinating and of course top secret. But an Aerospace man got a little tipsy in a bar at Thapae Gate about 15 years back and told me that - THEN - both Garuda and PIA were on the list, plus EVERY Chinese airline except EVA and every Russian airline.

...

We had such a list up to the early 2000. The airlines you list were on it for sure. Two that you missed that were on the list in the 90’s were Malaysian and Korea. Both for mostly for near misses with fuel issues on long haul flights.

As others have said, most have has cleaned up their acts very well Though we still cannot fly Garuda domestically which can make getting around Indonesia tough. We usually just send a local…

TH

[Kwasaki]

Over the years I have flown Thai airways many times at reasonable prices without incident of any kind, the worse was who I call "Aeroflop".

Flying is still considered the safest way to travel, it's the survival rate that concerns me.

Just to lighten the subject up a bit here's just a few of the many conversations from one airline with a sense of humour.

On South African domestic flight carrier Kulula the Pilots and Flight crew make an effort to make the in-flight "safety lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining.

Bing-bong:- In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are travelling with more than one small child, pick your favourite.

There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane.

In the event of an emergency water landing "Your seats cushions can be used for flotation; please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments."

On a particular flight the pilot had hammered his 737 into the runway really hard, while the Pilot stood at the door while the passengers exited, finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Why, no Ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it?" The little old lady said, "Did we land, or were we shot down ?"

Part of a flight attendant's arrival announcement: "We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today.. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of Kulula Airways."

Enjoy your next flight folkes.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Kwasaki

[nong38]

It seems like their bad days were 20 or so years ago so it does not really mean too much and it does depend on whose list you read and when and how it was compiled, the ones I have seen and are not mentioned are Turkish, Korean and China, Indian, but I always look at safety records, age of fleet, what planes they use and engines. Only one life who do trust?

[tvh13]

Considering their record they don't seem that bad to me. I would fly them. 5 crashes out of 1.98 million completed flights (airdisasters dot com lists five dating from 1998 back to 1980).

[mrik23]

Does anyone consider the weather as a risk factor ?

I think most of crashes in Thai, Philli and Indo are related to heavy storm.

[Lancelot]

Compared with the deaths due to motor bike accidents, I'd opt for Thai Airways any time.

But they don't fly to my neighborhood 7-11

[tw25rw]

Qantas had a fatal crash, but it wasn't a jet. They've had some lucky escapes with jets recently though.