Times are undeniably scary. The amount of plane crashes in the news lately has instilled a

lot of fear into the minds of travellers, but I want to provide some comfort on that.

First, it’s important to understand the impact of social media on news, and mass panic.

We consume largely the same headlines, and from the grapevine, the newest trending story

makes its rounds and plagues the mind of every individual who is even remotely online.

The way that news spreads is acidic. Knowing that right now, planes are a point of

contention in politics, due to the fear of even having a stable air traffic controller job, the media

knows what the community is feeding on. They strive for it; they thrive for it. So first things

first, you have to be aware.

Second, the statistics of actually dying in a plane due to crashes, malfunctions, and

failures is not as common as one may think in this current climate.

According to The NSC (National Safety Council), air travel is one of the safest ways of

transportation! At any given time, there will be between 7,782 to 8,755 flights in the sky. That is

over 45,000 according to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).

According to Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, Out of all of the documented flight hours in

2007 (24 million), 6.84 of every 100,000 flight hours yielded a crash. Of those 6.84, 1.19 of them

were fatal. Per 100 miles flown, there are 0.01 airplane deaths. You are more likely to be killed

by a coconut than on a plane!

This is all to say, that the media right now should be something you’re aware of, but not

let interfere with your fear and anxiety. Media changes the way you view things, and often, the

unnecessary time you may spend fearing the ideas media brings is time you could be spending

more aware, yet, more educated at the same time. Stay aware.