We beat COVID-19 in a year, why can’t we survive a plane crash?

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OPINION

By Dr Bob Marley Achura (PhD)

Few human tragedies evoke the scale of devastation, shock, and helplessness like a plane crash. In a matter of seconds, lives are extinguished mid-air, hopes, dreams, and destinies torn apart with metal and fire.

India was recently rocked by yet another aviation disaster when a Boeing 737 aircraft operated by Air India Express overshot the runway in Kerala, bursting into flames and killing at least 245 people, including both pilots. It is a painful reminder that in the 21st century, despite all our technological triumphs, we remain alarmingly vulnerable at 35,000 feet.

These moments aren't rare. In March 2019, the world mourned when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 plunged into the ground minutes after take-off, killing all 157 passengers.

Just five months earlier, Lion Air Flight 610 met a similar fate over the Java Sea.

In Europe, the Germanwings tragedy of 2015, where a co-pilot deliberately crashed a plane into the French Alps, claimed 150 lives.

In the United States, Colgan Air Flight 3407 in 2009 reminded us how fatigue and technical glitches can result in catastrophe, killing 50 people near Buffalo, New York.

Statistically, flying remains safer than driving, but when plane crashes happen, survival is rare.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, over 500 people died in commercial airline crashes globally in 2023 alone, and the survival rate in major air disasters remains below 10%. This is an unbearable cost.

As someone who narrowly survived a terrifying flight, I know the deep scars these experiences leave behind.

In October 1993, I took my first-ever flight from Entebbe International Airport to Nairobi. What should have been a short and routine trip quickly turned into a nightmare as the aircraft encountered severe turbulence and veered dangerously close to Mount Kenya.

We skidded violently upon descent, and for a few long minutes, it felt like we were descending into catastrophe. Passengers screamed, overhead luggage burst open, and panic gripped the cabin. Miraculously, the plane regained control, and we landed safely. But I carried the trauma of that flight for years. For four long years, I couldn't bring myself to board another plane. That moment still haunts me and has made me a lifelong advocate for improving aviation safety.

Science has moved mountains—so why not in aviation safety?

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, science responded with breathtaking urgency. Within 11 months, multiple vaccines were developed using mRNA technology; a platform never before deployed at scale.

Global pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna demonstrated that when necessity meets investment, the impossible becomes routine.

Similarly, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and NASA have shattered limits, sending reusable rockets, satellites, and even astronauts into space with increasing frequency.

The James Webb Space Telescope, deployed by NASA in collaboration with European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is now capturing breathtaking images of galaxies billions of light years away.

If we can build machines that travel into deep space, track sub-microscopic viruses, and invent vaccines in months, why can’t we design passenger planes that can save 90% of lives in a crash?

Where is the innovation in saving lives mid-air?

It's not for lack of knowledge. Scientists understand the mechanics of crash survivability: structural compartmentalisation, ejection pods, advanced parachuting systems, and crash-resistant fuselages. Ukrainian engineer Vladimir Tatarenko even proposed a detachable cabin concept that could land passengers safely during mid-air failure. Yet, none of these innovations have been commercialised. Why? Bureaucracy. Cost. Regulatory inertia. And above all, a fatal acceptance of the status quo.

It is time to disrupt that complacency. Air travel will only increase in the coming decades. We cannot continue to eulogise, mourn, and move on every time a crash steals hundreds of lives. We need a bold, international coalition of aviation regulators, aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus, safety engineers, and governments to fund and mandate next-gen safety systems, not for future prototypes, but for planes flying today.

A call to action!!

The tragedy in India this week must not become just another headline. Each lost soul was a child, parent, worker, or dreamer. We owe it to them and to ourselves to demand more. Let us mobilise the same sense of urgency that defeated COVID-19 and is now unlocking the mysteries of Mars, to revolutionise air safety.

Because in 2025, with all the knowledge, tools, and capital at our disposal, it should no longer be acceptable that plane crashes remain death sentences.

The skies must remain a place of wonder, not of fear. And that future is ours to build today.

The writer is a global health and development policy expert with over 24 years of experience spanning reproductive health, health systems strengthening, Sanitation & Hygiene et al. and donor coordination across Sub-Saharan Africa. I currently serve as a consultant to the Africa CDC, Uganda Lead for Geisinger University School of Medicine, and Global Health & External Examiner for Mount Sinai University School of Medicine. My work is grounded in evidence, informed by front-line realities, and driven by a commitment to equitable development.