After checking the safety record of Garuda Indonesia, then, out of curiosity, I checked the safety record of
Cathay Pacific. I have been their Gold member for quite a while. There was a time I took their flight every week.
The last major accident was
15-Jun-1972. I was not on this earth yet. That
accident killed 81 people. It was caused by a exploded bomb under a seat when flying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Pacific#Incidents_and_accidents
In wiki, it also indiciated other incidents dated from1948-1972.
Nothing really interesting, but CX awarded "This was the first hijacking of a commercial liner in the world...."...,
When I was about to sleep, "What about SQ?" popped up in my head. With all these some kind additional and duplicated, security and safety checking and even the crews claimed all these just because of our safety....
The list in aiddiaster.com was actually much shorter... only 1 major accident.
However, it was on
31-Oct-2000, it seemed to me very close... and I could probably trace what I was doing that day....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_airline#Incidents_and_accidents
31 October 2000 – Singapore Airlines Flight 006 operated by a Boeing 747-400, crashed at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) in Taiwan killing 83 people aboard and injuring 71 people during heavy rain caused by Typhoon Xangsane. SQ006 was the first fatal crash of a Singapore Airlines aircraft and the first fatal crash of the Boeing 747-400.
The scary part was, this incident was nothing to with multiple baggage scanning (before immigration, before boarding) and duplicated document check. (counter, before boarding, boarding).
In wiki, it also contained a link to SilkAir, which is an airline based in Singapore. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Airline... I think this is a budget version of SQ.
I clicked the link about incidents again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SilkAir#Incidents_and_accidents
On December 19, 1997, SilkAir Flight 185, operated by a Boeing 737-300 and piloted by Captain Tsu Way Ming, plunged into the Musi River in Sumatra during a routine flight from Jakarta to Singapore, killing all 104 people on board. The Indonesian NTSC ruled that the cause of the accident could not be determined, while the United States NTSB concluded that the incident was "consistent with ... intentional pilot action".
And it seems that is nothing related to the pessengers or airport security.
Finally, I checked Air India...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India#Accidents_and_incidents
There was no major accidents after 1990. The one on 1990 caused no fatalities. But their record in 80's was terrible....
If we plot a graph about number of incidents aganist time, we will get this one:
Interesting....
After talking to someone, said that to be fair, the fleet size does matter. I agree and I try to find the incident rate... I could find some reference and the result was not very suprise... According to the above.
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm
DISCLAIMER These accident rates should not be used to provide an assessment of an airline’s safety profile or future risk of an accident. These rates are derived from past accidents and not an estimate or prediction of future risk. There are many additional factors in judging the safety of an air carrier which are not included here. These rates are not meant to endorse or condemn any particular airline or group of airlines nor are they intended to persuade or dissuade use of any particular airline. The accident rates and method of calculation of the accident rates are solely the opinion of this web site and the creator is not responsible for how this information is used and will not be held legally responsible for any consequences arising from the use of this information. There are numerous commercial organizations that provide complete and extensive safety ratings of commercial air carriers.
For the regoinal ranking in Asia, it was listed as follows. The number in the blanket after is the global ranking.
1: All Nippon Airways (8/88)
2: Japan Airlines (10/88)
3: Qantas (12/88)
4: Hanin airlines (What is it?) (24/88)
5: Air New Zealand (25/88)
6: Cathay Pacific (29/88)
7: Malaysia Airlines (36/88)
10: Air India (45/88)
11: Dragon Air (49/88)
16: Garuda Indonesian (73/88)
18: Singapore Airlines / Silkair (78/88)
19: China Eastern Airlines (79/88)
22: China Airlines (88/88)
SQ is just slightly better than 華航... oh my god!
