Flying fears switch from terrorism to technical faults

Melbourne, June 26 : A new survey has shown that air passengers are now more scared of mechanical or technical problems on flight than any other danger.

According the report released by Civil Aviation Safety Authority, passengers are now more worried about human error and mechanical problems than terrorism and sabotage.

The survey showed 27 per cent of the Aussies cited the mechanical and technical problems as their biggest fear, compared with 23 per cent in 2005.

Worries about human error ranked third - psychological factors ranked second - and were up by 4 percentage points to 16 per cent.

On one hand where passengers' concerns about mechanical or technical problems rose from 16 per cent to 26 per cent, on the other terrorism or sabotage showed a sharp fall from 52 per cent to 16 per cent.

"Also worth noting is the increase in the number of people nominating human error as a cause of concern (up from 1 per cent in 2005 to 14 per cent in 2008)," the report stated.

"CASA may need to consider news reports or the regular scheduling of air crash investigation television shows as contributing factors to this increase since 2005."

The study findings also revealed that Australians are more assured about domestic aviation safety, with 78 per cent of those flying between capital cities saying they were confident or very confident they would reach their destination in one piece, reports the Australian.

Passengers flying to and from regional centres on smaller planes were less confident about safety than their capital city counterparts, but still felt happier about safety than they did in 2005.

The survey found 64 per cent - up 2 points from the previous survey - were completely or very confident.

For regional travellers lack of security at regional airports (5 per cent), inferior facilities (4 per cent) and lower safety on small aircraft (2 per cent) were reasons for concern.

ANI