Found out only 6% of plane crashes happen during cruising altitude

Was reading some FAA stats while waiting for a flight at O'Hare and saw that 88% of crashes happen during takeoff or landing. Made me feel way better about those 4 hours of snacks and movies 30,000 feet up - has anyone else seen numbers that flipped your whole view on something?

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skyler_smith853mo ago

Doesn't that kind of stat just make you rethink all those little fears? I mean, I've spent years gripping the armrest during turbulence like it's a life or death situation, but according to those numbers, that's basically the safest part of the whole trip. On top of that, takeoff and landing are so short compared to the whole flight, so the risk is way more concentrated. You could argue that cruising is actually the time to relax and enjoy the free ginger ale, not stress out about every bump. It flips the whole idea of "dangerous flying" on its head for sure.

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carr.brooke3mo ago

Honestly I think people overthink this stuff way too much. You're still thousands of feet in the air in a metal tube, turbulence or not it's not exactly "relaxing time" to me.

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