Letter: Air tickets are cheap, but air safety is very expensive

Sir: Comments like 'Statistics tell us that it's safe to fly' do not tell the whole story ('A summer of aircraft crashes', 6 September). Air travel only tops the safe list when compared by miles travelled. If one uses hours travelled, air travel comes in third, and measured by journeys undertaken, it comes in seventh, behind motor vehicles.

There are signs that the aviation industry in some areas is beginning to rest on its laurels. The Association of Licensed Aircraft Engineers has been warning for some time now that cracks are beginning to appear, but these warnings have been falling on deaf ears.

We are in agreement with the statement: 'All modern airplanes are safe, but they may not be if they don't get maintained properly and the crews don't get trained properly.' The problem is that in this multi-million pound industry, maintenance, upkeep and training all cost large sums of money " but ticket prices remain low.

Most people understand that you do not get something for nothing. The flying public needs to know that training and maintenance have come under the accountants' eyes. This leads to a game of cat and mouse between operators and regulators. A good regulator such as the UK CAA will tend to be right up there with the latest trends of cost cutting and putting a stop to it if necessary. Other regulators are not so professional.

This brings us to another problem. Aircraft, by their nature, are not confined within their home country's borders. That means that the standards and risks related to any aircraft follow it wherever it goes: not just those on board are at risk; those under the flight path are too.

Finally, there are parallels with the rail industry. The early 1990s in the UK saw union warnings about standards being ignored. We all know the results of that. If history were to repeat itself within the aviation industry, the results would be devastating.

ROBERT ALWAY

ASSOCIATION OF LICENSED AIRCRAFT ENGINEERS BAGSHOT, SURREY

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