Since the birth of the modern travel industry, people have long debated which is the safest form of travel available. While highly publicized aviation accidents have caused some to swear off taking to the skies, others may not take to the ocean due to the fear of water or with the train derailments. So, let us explore which is the safest mode of transportation?

Commuter Trail:

India has encountered some awful railway crashes, most recently India’s death toll from train derailments in 2016-17 is the highest. When the Indore-Patna Express derailed, causing 120 deaths. As many as 29 train accidents were reported in the first six months of 2017, killing 57 people and injuring 58. In Mumbai alone, 3304 people died in 2015 commuting on local trains, most caused by passengers falling from overcrowded trains. In many cases, this occurred when riding on the roof of the train, which is not likely to be a risk factor for many foreign travellers. As many as 1,394 train accidents were reported in India over the ten years considered for this analysis. Of these accidents, 51% or 708 were due to derailments.

Commercial Airlines

The global aviation accident rate has shown a decline at one accident for every 2.56 million flights in 2016 compared to the 2011-15 average, as about four billion people safely flew about 40.4 million flights last year, so nothing is safer than commercial planes, which have been involved in very few crashes. Small planes, known as air taxis, that carry passengers to very rural destinations are responsible for most of the deaths in this category. Private planes cause far more deaths than commercial airlines, but those deaths also are not included in these figures. Although 2017 was recorded as the safest year in the history of aviation, Not a single person died in passenger commercial airliner accidents in 2017, according to data from two groups. There were 10 fatal accidents with 268 deaths in 2016, compared to an average of 13.4 fatal accidents and 371 deaths annually in the previous five-year period of 2011-2015, according to the report of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which recently released data for the 2016 -2017 safety performance of the commercial airline industry.

The unsung Super Hero’s – AME’s ensures the safety

Safety is the primary consideration when engineers design an aeroplane. But to maintain the safety for every take off for flight is done by An aircraft maintenance engineer, they are responsible for ensuring an a ircraft operates properly and safely. A maintenance engineer may make repairs, troubleshoot problems, conduct inspections and make upgrades to aircrafts. Daily duties may include keeping records of and performing scheduled maintenance, making emergency repairs. Rajendra Khashaba Mane, Chief Instructor, of School for Aircraft Maintenance Engineering says - In view of the fact that AME’s must have good technical, scientific, mathematical and inventive minds, they must demonstrate patience, motivation, determination, perseverance and strong problem-solving skills. Apart from that, they must be excellent communicators and 'team players' since aircraft maintenance requires the work of a number of people working together. AMEs works indoors and outdoors as they always remain ready for all the emergency situations occurs in the aircraft, they are the only one who takes care of each and every minor nut bolt to ensure the safety of the passengers. AME’s should be able to visualize problems in three dimensions and work well on computers.

They should not be afraid of heights, as some jobs might require working on aircraft tails or fuselage wings. AMEs also makes repairs on all types of weather conditions. Some may be required to travel to airports in different cities and towns to troubleshoot problems, often on call in the evenings or weekends to ensure aircraft are in an airworthy state. Finally, AME’s are the real hero’s of the aviation industry.