Air space

ANYONE who has ever driven a car can tell you that you take your life in your hands when you get behind the wheel. Selfishness, carelessness and simple human error mean safety can never be guaranteed. Handling a plane as it weaves its way through the sky is little different.

By The Newsroom

Published 3rd May 2010, 01:03 BST

Updated 3rd May 2010, 01:04 BST

Rules, and a culture of caution, can only do so much. While the stakes may be higher at 30,000 feet, pilots and air traffic controllers have to show the same combination of vigilance, calm and flexibility to navigate their plane and their passengers safely. The 13 incidences of near misses of aircraft flying in and out of Yorkshire airports over the last three years are a cause for concern, rather than fear. It is still too many but they have to be set against the backdrop of tens of thousands of flights in the region every year.

As the airways grow ever busier, and our addiction to flying shows little sign of waning, it is important that pilots and air traffic controllers get the training, practical advice and rest that they need to keep us safe. Flying is one profession where mistakes really can be a matter of life and death.

Yorkshire