Aeronautics: Death in the Books

How safe is flying? Last week the Actuarial Society of America's Committee on Aviation issued a 41-page answer, combed from its gloomy ledgers of death in the air. The Committee found a big 1931 improvement in civilian flying and continued betterment in military and scheduled airline flying. On scheduled lines there was one fatality for every 19,346 passengers carried, against one in 17,396 in 1930, 3,314 in 1928. The air traveler need not expect to be killed before his 20,000th flight. On a passenger-mile basis he is reasonably certain of flying 4,600,000 mi....

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