There huge are diffences between safe, lucky, unsafe and accident free. It was good to hear that in 2017 there were no major public transport accidents resulting in death reported. But let’s not kid ourselves, we should be prepared at all times to do whatever we have to do to recover it situation that has gone wrong. Our friends in the sandpit are leading the way in safety by battering their crews with their safety stick (I’m sure that will work). And even at Birdseed things are not much better. The AAIB made some interesting comments about the way the Airbus with open cowls was flown. This is not a criticism of the crew involved but of the highly restrictive SOP’s under which they have to operate. I’m afraid we are as dangerous (or as safe) as we have been for a long time. The next smoking hole in the ground will not come as a surprise to me. My prediction is that it will involve an aircraft flown with highly restrictive SOP’s.
PM