[flight next week] check here first

Flying next week? Fearful you'll be going down in a screaming, twisted heap of tangled metal and perishing in a ball of flame? Don't be worried. This Higham study is designed to help you, to allay your fears. Here are some of the conclusions:

Safest planes: Boeing 777, Airbus 340, Airbus 330, Boeing 767

Least safe: The real doozy is the Aerospatile Concorde. Don't take it. Then a range of Embraers, Fokkers, Airbuses and McDonnells. Boeing 747-400 is relatively unsafe but that might be because of age and the huge number of runs they have done.

Safest airlines: South West, America West, Delta Airlines [disputed here], Mexicana Airlines, Aerolineas, Argentinas, Varig, British Airways, Lufthansa, SAS, South African, Saudi Airlines, Qantas, All Nippon Airways, Air New Zealand [as long as you don't go near Mt. Erebus]

Least safe: Air Canada, Aloha Airlines, American Airlines, LAN Chile, Aero Peru, Cubana, Air France, KLM, TAP, Portugal, Egypt Air, Royal Jordanian, Air Zimbabwe, Singapore/Silk Air, Japan Airlines, Garuda Airlines, Phillippines Airlines

Wanting to check on some of these, I had a look at all airline incidents by airline [the things I do for you] and the real shockers, with multiple repeated incidents are:

Aeroflot, Air France, American, China, Dan Air, Korean, Pan Am, TWA, United, US Air.

Good luck if you're booked on one of these.

British Airways have 4 incidents in modern times so you have a chance of stayng up with them; the only recent Lufthansa incident was in an Airbus and Qantas has the cleanest record of anyone.

Safest seats: Theoretically speaking, the safest seat is one that is facing to the back of the aircraft. Conventional wisdom has sometimes influenced safety experts to conclude that sitting at the rear of the airplane provides a higher survival rate. If you survive the sickening plummet, being nearest to the exits ensure the best guarantee of a safe evacuation.

Newer better? Not necessarily. Today, manufactures and airlines refuse to agree on when old is too old because the life span of an airplane can be extended.

Danger times? Predictably, the take off and climb to cruising altitude, and the descent and landing of the airplane are the two most critical phases of the entire journey.

Pilot error is a far more likely cause of an airplane crash than mechanical failure or bad weather conditions. It is pertinent to note that commuter airlines and air taxis have almost double the accident rates of large air carriers. the cream of the pilots’ community is attracted to the more established airlines where training standards are better and pay is even more attractive.

Conclusions? Fly on established airlines whose planes are not jointly owned or developed by a number of countries and which have fared well in the accident records.

Be careful which American airline you take and which Airbus. Always ask first.

Choose main commercial flights, rather than charter or non-regular. Be careful of "long haul packages" which lump safe airlines with shoddy ones.

Apart from that, have a lovely flight and see you if you return ... sorry ... when you return!