Fear of Flying

The news that: "Experts have warned there is a "high probability" that a fault which caused a British Airways jet to crash-land at Heathrow could hit other Boeing 777s." does not reassure a nervous flyer like myself. The additional information that: "US air accident investigators called for a component to be redesigned after a Delta Air Lines plane reportedly encountered a similar problem. Manufacturers Rolls-Royce say the new part should be ready within the year." does not help; ready within the year does not help when I take four flights on 777s most years. I have never liked the idea of two engined planes flying the Atlantic, I would say three or four engines should be the minimum - a 747 would be my favourite or bring back the Tristar.

The BBC try to reassure us passengers with

"Aviation expert David Gleave said he would have no concerns about flying on a Boeing 777 as new "operating procedures", such as boosting the engine on approach to landing to keep the heat up, had been implemented.

"All the regulatory authorities are satisfied the new procedures which they will adopt or already have adopted will cure the problem as a temporary measure," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Then new components will be fitted in time which will remove the need for the new operation procedure."

A Boeing spokeswoman said it had issued a set of guidelines for pilots to prevent long-term build-up of ice and these procedures had been approved by the regulatory bodies."

But have to admit that:

"the NTSB report said: "While the procedures may reduce the risk of a rollback in one or both engines due to ice blockage, they add complexity to flight crew operations, and the level of risk reduction is not well established.""

Alex Masterley has a take on this story that has me ven more worried, but it is a nice risk/reward comparison:

"It is good to see that in these difficult times, there are still people willing to take a measured risk. I refer of course to the world's airlines who will continue to fly Boeing 777's despite a known fault that has led to one crash and one near incident.

Our aviation correspondent reports:

The cause of the crash at Heathrow of BA 038 in January 2008 has been identified as fuel starvation or what engineers call "no fuel getting to the engine". Investigators have identified the primary factor leading to this problem, which they has been described by leading technical experts as "a big lump of ice in the fuel tank", which arose from an adverse thermodynamic environment at high altitudes. The effect of the blockage was to limit the flow of fuel to both engines.

With over 750 planes put in service in the last 15 years, that works out at about 2 incidents in 2.8 million flights, or about 10 times the probability of winning the national lottery.

The Boeing 777 is widely used on transatlantic and intercontinental flights. Industry experts say that in the event of a similar mid-flight incident, where ice accumulating in the tanks might be dislodged by turbulence or other activity, then the pilot would be unlikely to be able to manoeuvre the plane in the same manner as Capt. Sully Sullenberger, who recently landed an aircraft in the Hudson River shortly after take off from LaGuardia Airport.

The most likely manoeuvre after a total loss of power, including failure avionics and controls, would be a 35,000 ft "plummet", putting down on the surface of the sea at a velocity above industry norms, causing likely damage to the aircraft fuselage, after which the aircraft would probably "sink like a stone", industry sources commented."

I don't normally drink on planes, far too dehydrating, but I can envisage my hitting the alcohol just a tad on my next few flights.