For anyone caught up in the current transportation paranoia, here are a few sobering statistics to cheer you up.
Data comes from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and is inclusive over the ten-year period from October 1999 through September 2009.
total number of commercial flights:
99,320,309
total number of terrorist attacks:Â 6
total number of successful terrorist attacks:Â 4
total number of miles:Â 69,415,786,000
=
one attack per 11.5 billion miles flown; the equivalent of 1,459,664 trips around the equator or 24, 218 trips to the Moon and back, or two round trips from Earth to the planet Neptune.
total airborne time (425 mph average):
18 millenia, 6 centuries, 32 years, 276 days, 13 hours, 28 minutes, 24 seconds
=
one attack per 27.2 million hours airborne.
(that’s 3,105 years)
{3,100 years ago the New Kingdom in Egypt comes to an end}
total number of passengers:
7,015,630,000
that’s 23 times the population of the United States of America.
number of passengers killed :Â 647
647 is also the total population of Muscoda, WI.
odds of being a terrorism victim in flight:Â one in 10,408,947
odds of being killed by lightning:Â 1 in 500,000 
About Author
