It’s official air travel is safer than all other forms of transport per passenger-mile. Nine times safer than driving. Over the last twenty years the accident rate in the US has fallen by sixty five per cent. That’s one fatal accident in every four and a half million flights. But how did flying become so reliable? In part because of accidents that triggered engineers to think again and create crucial safety improvements.
Programme One – five landmark crashes and the technology developed to ensure they are never repeated. Including the story of Delta 191 which led to a new cockpit warning system which alerts pilots to the dangers of a microburst. And the development of fuel tank inerting after the devastating explosion of TWA 800.
Programme Two – five landmark crashes and the technology developed to ensure they are never repeated. Including a remarkable aerated concrete used to prevent runway overruns. And the hidden fire which brought down Swiss Air 111 and exposed a deadly flaw in the Thermal Acoustic Insulation of hundreds of planes.
