FlyingSportsman:
What about a better reliability of critical components, e.g. the engines?
I was under the impression they do fail less this day than they did 20 or 30 years ago.
On the other hand, I'm a bit more reserved on the "glass cockpit": Great tool when it works, but has safety related issues, too:
- when it doesn't work so well (Slasher's post #11) / when things go fast (typically, I'm more proficient to read/interpret a needle going down the gauge, than a tape going fast)
- (perhaps not so often related to airliners) with so fancy screens just in front of one's nose, one may look more to those screen, less to the real world outside, even in VMC and worst even under VFR...
By the way, reading your list, I think your real question should be written as: "What make airliners safer today than before", not *just* "What make airliners so safe"
