First of all, what is an accident? As defined by the FAA Federal Aviation Administration its when an aircraft for the purpose of flight from point of origin to destination suffer damage to the aircraft, fatalities, injuries, or damage to property. However, what causes accidents is not as easily defined. What I could tell you is that all accidents are caused by a chain of events that may occur on the day of the accident or months, weeks, or days before. In every NTSB report you could clearly see a chain of events that if just one event in that chain of events would've been discovered or broken, it could've changed the entire outcome of that accident.

One of the reasons I discuss accidents here is to help you realize how rare it is and help relieve your anxiety further. You have to be incredible unlucky to be involved in an accident. If it takes a chain of bad events to cause an accident then its just that much more rare for you to be involved in an accident. One study show it would take a fully loaded Boeing 737 to crash everyday for the year  & it would still be 25,000 years for your number to come up. If you understand the dynamics of accidents I think it would help you relieve your anxiety and phobia of flying. It goes back to my principle of understanding the aviation industry. Most people think that if you made a mistake in a large commercial jet that it would have catastrophic consequences. That's not necessary true in today's commercial aircraft which are highly computer automated with many redundant safety systems.

Today's aircraft could fly & land by themselves. The pilots are just along for the ride. The pilots are computer & systems managers. They are there for if something goes wrong. If you make a mistake or forget to set something in an jet, the computer yells at you. Bells & whistles may go off as well. Just about everything is yelling at you to say hey dummy correct this problem before it gets out of hand. The problem occurs when a person becomes complacent, or take things for granted, or rely too much on computers & automation.The computers are only as good as the pilot programming it. So that means if the pilot programs it to fly into a mountain, its going to do exactly that unless someone breaks the error chain of events and catches that mistake. When you are relying on human interaction with machines, mistakes will eventually happen.

Todays cockpit have two or more pilots so if one makes a mistake theirs a good chance a backup system or computer will catch it.Theres also a better chance that the other pilot will catch those same errors. Pilots in general are trained not to be too trusting with anyone person or computer. As a pilot myself, I know I am like that. I've seen too many mistakes made by both experience captains & first officers to know to fully trust anyone.  Pilots in general are trained to be multi-taskers and be proactive with getting things done. I realize many people will always have anxieties about accidents, but it goes back to my original concept of trusting the industry. Yes, mistakes are going to be made. However, there are checks & balances. There is a built in safety net designed to catch & correct error early on. Rather its the air traffic controllers, mechanics, rampers, or flight attendants, they all pay a role in bringing safety issues to pilots before it gets out of hand. Thats what makes the system safe. Everyone watches out for each other. Thats why driving a car is more dangerous. Over 40,000 people die a year from car accidents. You may not be able to always overcome your fears & anxiety, but if you learn to trust the industry then you could focus more on breathing habits & reassuring yourself with soothing words like "I'm In good Hands" .Its rare when such a series of chain of events occur that slips through the cracks and causes an accident. In reality more people die from hospital malpractice errors then in commercial plane crashes. In fact, doctors are taking safety practices from commercial aviation ,Nasa ,& applying them to hospital practices in recent years.

One last point I would like to make is another accident case that happen in the mid-80s. I clearly remember this because I took my first flying lesson the day after this accident. This occurred at Teterboro airport in the summer of 1986. There was a mid-air collision between two general aviation aircraft. One was a 15 seat corporate Falcon-900 jet, & the other was a Piper Archer. Everyone on both planes died including 13 people on the ground. Ironically one of the persons who died on the ground was a man who's family was trying to get him to go to South America to visit his extended family. The man hasn't flown in years & had extreme anxieties about flying so he did not go with his wife & kids to South America. He died on the ground at home. At guess my point is when its your time to go, its going to happen regardless of where you are so there no sense allowing fear & anxiety to takeover your life.