Despite what is seen quite often in the news media on television and the Internet, for the most part air travel is considered to be much safer than travel by car or train. However, that still does not ease the minds of those that see the issues that arise on television all the time regarding claims that have gone down for a variety of reasons or a the missing Malaysian airliner that disappeared over a year ago. Countries and airlines are slowly making changes and finding the right technology to help make air travel even safer than it already is and there are a number of things that can be expected to take place over the coming years to help improve this technology.
Data is Crucial in Technology and Safety
Perhaps the most important issue involved in creating a safer flying atmosphere for people is in the sharing of data and providing of data across the world to airport security and air traffic controllers. Preventing potential terrorists from ever getting on a plane has proved to be one of the largest steps in preventing air catastrophes around the world. Airlines can still make improvements however, including the use of integrating the database of stolen passports that exists around the world. If more airlines were sharing this type of data, there would be less of an incidence of people you legally boarding planes that could cause possible disruptions around the world. The data is readily available but is underused a great deal even in well developed countries and in underdeveloped countries is hardly available at all. This needs to change in order for safety to improve.
New Technology at a Cost
There are all kinds of other improvements that are available to make air travel even safer. The technology exists for data to be shared between aircraft, control towers and air traffic controllers to provide for better weather information, better access to potential mechanical failures and better avoidance of potential midair collisions and other accidents. The real problem has been that many of the airlines are still using older models of airplanes and many air traffic control systems are still using outdated databases and equipment. Investments need to be made in the technological infrastructure of air traffic control towers around the world and in newer airplanes being used over older legacy airplanes that are not properly equipped to provide for the latest technological improvements.
While the technology does exist to make airline travel even safer, it has been slow to integrate into the systems around the world because of the costs that are involved in upgrading. Of course, politics and finances play a big role in all of this happening in whatever country is considering these changes, including in the United States. The changes can be made in cost-efficient manners with proper investigation and implementation so that more countries are willing to adapt to better access of data and sharing of information and more airlines will be willing to make the steps necessary to incorporate the new technology into their airplanes.