Planes Don't Kill People -- Plane Exhaust Does

(Oct. 11) -- If you can't fly the friendly skies without a stiff drink or a sedative, take note: The fumes from airplanes are to blame for more annual deaths than actual airplane crashes.

Maybe not the most reassuring of factoids, but one that offers a reminder of just how safe (relatively speaking) air travel really is.

What's so deadly about airplane exhaust?

Much like the exhaust that pours out of your car, plane fuel emits pollutants (like sulfur dioxide, for example). The particles are tiny, and that's what makes them so deadly: They can easily enter the human bloodstream and cause long-term health damage.

Researchers at MIT, whose work is reported by National Geographic, used a computer model to track plane emissions through the atmosphere. They noted where the emissions were likely to fall and then linked them to human deaths.

They tabulated that around 10,000 deaths per year can be blamed on airplane pollution. Compare that to 1,000 annual deaths caused by crashes.

And most of the deaths are caused by emissions at cruising altitudes over 3,000 -- not takeoff and landing, whose emissions are monitored and controlled.

"Anything above that [altitude] really hasn't been regulated, and the goal of this research was to determine whether that was really justified," Steven Barrett, the study's lead author, told MIT's News Office.

How do airplane pollutants kill?

The most common deadly conditions linked to pollution are cardiovascular disease and respiratory ailments like lung cancer.

Air pollution kills an estimated 1 million people each year, according to a 2004 study by the World Health Organization. That makes air travel a relatively small segment of a much, much larger health problem.

But keep in mind that those illnesses are caused by other modes of transit, including the ubiquitous personal automobile.

Oh, and ships: Those emissions kill an estimated 60,000 people a year. Ahoy!

Should I be opting for train travel, or what?

Unless you plan on not breathing, period, your best, albeit most selfish bet is to stick it out in the United States.

Although the U.S. sends a vast swath of airplanes into the sky, much of the emissions produced by American planes actually fall to the planet's surface in other areas -- where more people are suffering ill health effects.

India, in particular, is suffering from the Western world's jet plane affinity. The country incurs seven times the deaths that would be anticipated, relative to the number of flights over the country, because of atmospheric winds blowing our pollution into the country.

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