Is it safe to fly with Philippine carriers?

When an aircraft carrying 242 lives falls from the sky, it becomes easier to understand why some people fear flying, especially when everyone on that flight—save for a sole survivor—was tragically killed.

- By ELIJAH FELICE ROSALES

This was the case of Air India's Flight 171, assigned a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, recorded in the Philippines, resulting in the loss of four lives.

The first involves a Beechcraft B300 King Air 500—owned by military supplier Metrea Special Aerospace based in Washington—that crashed in an airfield in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur. The aircraft was providing intelligence support to the Philippine military.

The crash killed all four occupants of the Beechcraft, including a 22-year-old member of the U.S. Marines, who was here for joint defense activities between Manila and Washington.

The second concerns a United Airlines flight, served by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, headed for Singapore. The plane, originating from San Francisco, California, experienced severe turbulence above Claveria, Cagayan.

Fortunately, all 189 passengers of the plane were safe, but a cabin crew member suffered serious injuries, and four others sustained minor wounds.

Notably, none of these aircraft accidents involve a Philippine carrier. And this is not by chance, industry players told The STAR, because they invest heavily on engineering and maintenance costs to ensure that each and every plane on their fleet is safe for navigation.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that last year, the all-accident rate in flights was one in every 880,000, with seven fatal accidents out of 40.6 million flights.

However, as stated by IATA director general Willie Walsh, every fatality is one too many. And in aviation, the principle is to learn from every accident out of respect for those who lost their lives.