Former flight attendant reveals the 'real' chances you could survive a plane crash
For many, aerophobia is a genuine phobia that means even stepping inside an airport can make your blood run cold.
There's plenty of evidence out there about how flying is safer than driving, and in 2025, Federal Highway Administration statistics suggest that US residents are 1,753 times more likely to die in a car than on a plane.
Giving us insight into life as a flight attendant, one former member of cabin crew spoke to LADbible about what it's really like while up in the air on a plane.
Mandy Smith has already revealed what happens if you try to join the Mile High Club and what happens when someone dies on board a plane, but now, we look at how safe you really are.
Advert
There's been concern about an increased number of plane crashes in 2025, and although the likes of Delta Connection Flight 4819 had no fatalities, not every flight is so lucky.
According to Smith, your chances of survival during a plane crash are pretty high.
Hyping the skills of pilots, Smith explained: "You know, the pilots have so much training that they could even land without engines these days.
“You fly gliders, you fly little aeroplanes, you fly all kinds, and you have to have so many hundreds of flying hours before you even get your pilot's licence, so, they're very, very well trained."
Referring to the 2024 Haneda Airport runway collision, where an Airbus A350-900 crashed into a coastguard aircraft on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport, she reminds us that all passengers and crew on the Japan Airlines flight survived.
Smith added: "The cabin crew were amazing, and they got absolutely everyone out, and there was nothing left of the aeroplane once they'd finished, it was incinerated, but everybody got out, and it was fine."
Although the figures might be outdated by now, the BBC points us to a US National Transportation Safety Board review of national aviation accidents from 1983-1999, confirming that 95% of those involved in accidents survived.
That also includes 55%, even in the most serious incidents. Similarly, an external European Transport Safety Council from 1996 estimated that 90% of aircraft accidents should be technically survivable.
Looking at 2013's Asiana Airlines Flight 214, 304 of the 307 on board survived, and considering the plane cartwheeled and was engulfed in flames, that's a 99% survival rate.
Interestingly, Smith also suggested the 'best' place to sit on a plane, saying that the middle of the plane over the wings is the best. Although she said it was to prevent turbulence because it's the most stable, this area has become particularly popular due to it being where the sole survivor of 2025's Air India disaster was sitting.
While all of the above will hopefully put some people's fears to bed about how safe flying is, we're sure others will continue suffering from their aerophobia.