airplt-
Well, I know Airtran had to change its name in order to have any chance of surviving the accident in the Everglades because their name became synonymous with shortcuts and safety violations to the public. I know Airtran got a bunch of their original DC-9's from a third world country from an airline that had a poor history of safety itself. I know that a disproportionate amount of those same airplanes were involved in numerous electrical fires, some of which involved emergency evacuations that were statistically higher than the rest of the industry's. But don't take my word for it, let the statistics speak.
And for the record, I wasn't bashing Airtran in particular. Any airline, including mine, could have an fatal accident regardless of its safety record at any time. I was simply making the point that the public, in general, doesn't care about any airline's safety record, as long as it isn't in the news too much wrecking airplanes. If their accident/incident level stays under the USA Today's radar, it's considered a "safe" airline by the public. Just because an airline is "low cost" doesn't mean it's unsafe. Look at Southwest in particular.
Safety Analysis
While AirTran is now a different airline than ValuJet (after a 1997 merger) with new management, it is important to remember that these very aircraft once belonged to an airline rated by the FAA as being 13 times less safe than any other low-cost air carrier in the country.
Many of AirTran's DC-9 jetliners are from third-world countries and have been involved in numerous serious incidents that make the overall safety of day-to-day operations questionable.
Air Safety Online issued a SafetyCenter Bulletin about this air carrier in January, 2001, after a special investigation revealed questionable maintenance practices.
The recent addition of new Boeing 717 jetliners into AirTran's fleet greatly increases the level of safety -- upgrading AirTran from an F to a C.
AirTran is still rated an "F" in the Air Safety Online/AirSafe.com statistical airline report card.
The following airline safety grades are based upon the number of fatal accidents per million flights that the carrier has flown since 1970.
For each airline, the sum of the full loss equivalent events is divided by the estimated number of flights to determine the estimated fatal event rate. The estimated total flights for each airline are for the period 1970 to present.
It is important to note that it is impossible to predict an airline accident. Any airline, regardless of its safety record, is susceptible to experiencing accidents.
United States & Canada
Airline
Rate
Events
Flights
Grade
Air Canada
0.33
3
4.75M
A
AirTran / ValuJet
5.88
1
0.17M
F
Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air
0.50
3
4.05M
A
Aloha Airlines / Aloha Islandair
0.75
1
1.34M
A
America West Airlines
0.00
0
2.30M
A
American Airlines
0.54
12
17.0M
A
American Trans Air ("ATA")
0.00
0
0.33M
A
Continental Airlines
0.18
5
8.00M
A
Delta Air Lines
0.16
6
20.0M
A
Hawaiian Airlines
0.00
0
0.33M
A
JetBlue Airlines 0.00 0 UNK A
Midway Airlines
0.00
0
0.08M
A
Midwest Express Airlines
3.85
1
0.26M
D
Northwest Airlines
0.28
4
9.20M
A
Southwest Airlines
0.00
0
9.50M
A
Trans World Airlines ("TWA")
0.38
6
8.10M
A
United Airlines
0.37
11
18.0M
A
US Airways / USAir
0.28
8
14.3M
A
Well, I know Airtran had to change its name in order to have any chance of surviving the accident in the Everglades because their name became synonymous with shortcuts and safety violations to the public. I know Airtran got a bunch of their original DC-9's from a third world country from an airline that had a poor history of safety itself. I know that a disproportionate amount of those same airplanes were involved in numerous electrical fires, some of which involved emergency evacuations that were statistically higher than the rest of the industry's. But don't take my word for it, let the statistics speak.
And for the record, I wasn't bashing Airtran in particular. Any airline, including mine, could have an fatal accident regardless of its safety record at any time. I was simply making the point that the public, in general, doesn't care about any airline's safety record, as long as it isn't in the news too much wrecking airplanes. If their accident/incident level stays under the USA Today's radar, it's considered a "safe" airline by the public. Just because an airline is "low cost" doesn't mean it's unsafe. Look at Southwest in particular.
Safety Analysis
While AirTran is now a different airline than ValuJet (after a 1997 merger) with new management, it is important to remember that these very aircraft once belonged to an airline rated by the FAA as being 13 times less safe than any other low-cost air carrier in the country.
Many of AirTran's DC-9 jetliners are from third-world countries and have been involved in numerous serious incidents that make the overall safety of day-to-day operations questionable.
Air Safety Online issued a SafetyCenter Bulletin about this air carrier in January, 2001, after a special investigation revealed questionable maintenance practices.
The recent addition of new Boeing 717 jetliners into AirTran's fleet greatly increases the level of safety -- upgrading AirTran from an F to a C.
AirTran is still rated an "F" in the Air Safety Online/AirSafe.com statistical airline report card.
The following airline safety grades are based upon the number of fatal accidents per million flights that the carrier has flown since 1970.
For each airline, the sum of the full loss equivalent events is divided by the estimated number of flights to determine the estimated fatal event rate. The estimated total flights for each airline are for the period 1970 to present.
It is important to note that it is impossible to predict an airline accident. Any airline, regardless of its safety record, is susceptible to experiencing accidents.
United States & Canada
Airline
Rate
Events
Flights
Grade
Air Canada
0.33
3
4.75M
A
AirTran / ValuJet
5.88
1
0.17M
F
Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air
0.50
3
4.05M
A
Aloha Airlines / Aloha Islandair
0.75
1
1.34M
A
America West Airlines
0.00
0
2.30M
A
American Airlines
0.54
12
17.0M
A
American Trans Air ("ATA")
0.00
0
0.33M
A
Continental Airlines
0.18
5
8.00M
A
Delta Air Lines
0.16
6
20.0M
A
Hawaiian Airlines
0.00
0
0.33M
A
JetBlue Airlines 0.00 0 UNK A
Midway Airlines
0.00
0
0.08M
A
Midwest Express Airlines
3.85
1
0.26M
D
Northwest Airlines
0.28
4
9.20M
A
Southwest Airlines
0.00
0
9.50M
A
Trans World Airlines ("TWA")
0.38
6
8.10M
A
United Airlines
0.37
11
18.0M
A
US Airways / USAir
0.28
8
14.3M
A
![7.gif']](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F%5Bimg+src%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usaviation.com%2Fidealbb%2Fimages%2Fsmilies%2F7.gif%27%5D&hash=e64b0f0cd8ee4bb7cacc78e9ac0256a9)
05 PM casual rat wrote: 
