Whilst researching on the internet, I found a report my uncle made concerning safety.
Full article
Oct 1979
Jet hull losses are now one in 676,000, according to Robert Belton of British Airways. During the 1970s, first-generation jets have been lost at a rate of between 4 and just over 5 per million departures. The widebody rate, by comparison, has fallen from around 5 to about 2.
The figure to remember, said Belton, is "one jet total loss per million hours in 1980. We shall all have to work hard to achieve this. It would still mean 14 jet hulls lost in 1980."
according to IATA in 2014 there were 30m commercial jet flights. At 1980 rates that would have meant between 60 and 120 hull losses. there were 7
one in 676,000 has become one in 4,400,000 or one in 8,300,000 for IATA members.
I know hull losses aren't the same as fatalities, which are more important of course 641 people still died in plane crashes in 2014.
However the figures make interesting reading when considering the argument about more automation and less experienced pilots.