Winston Aldworth: Safer than ever

Most of us don't consider the odds of dying to be sufficient disincentive to stop us from driving. Photo / Nick Reed

In 2014, 295 people died on New Zealand roads. Our population at the time was about 4.5 million. That means you had about a one in 15,250 chance of dying in a crash on our roads last year.

Our road toll has come down a lot and most of us don't consider the odds of dying to be sufficient disincentive to stop us from driving. We need to apply the same logic to flying.

In the same period, 3.3 billion people flew in commercial flights around the world and 990 of them died in crashes. (Unlike IATA - the aviation industry's global watchdog - our stats include the deaths aboard MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine.)

That means an airline passenger has about a one in 11 million chance of dying in a plane crash. About 100,000 flights land safely every day.

And it's getting safer. Industry boffins are considering inflight refuelling as an option for getting planes to fly further. Flying further means fewer take offs and landings - which are the most dangerous part of your flight.

The planet will be better off, too. Refuelling inflight means aircraft will be lighter at takeoff, meaning they burn less fuel.

The downside: A 17-hour haul could become pretty standard. The upside: Auckland to New York in one hop. Bring it on!