I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a jet setter but the amount of flying I’ve done compared to my parents is nothing short of astonishing. Indeed on average I’ll fly multiple times within Australia within a given year and often I’ll go overseas at least once per year. I’m pretty sure that I’m not an atypical traveller either especially considering how comparatively cheap air travel is these days. This had always made me wonder just how much the world flies on a daily basis, especially in more populated areas like the USA or Europe. As it turns out we fly a lot and a simulation of all the flights that happen around the world in 24 hours is nothing short of astonishing:
What I love about this simulation is how parts of the world seem to wake up as the sun passes over them. There seems to be constant ebbs and flows of air traffic at pretty much all times around the world, especially between the larger hubs, however as the sun crosses past Europe and the USA you can see the air traffic ramp up considerably, blotting out the content in a sea of yellow dots. There also seems to be some places in the world that are strangely devoid of air traffic with barely a handful of dots crossing their borders.
To me this video showcases just how safe travel is. In a single day there a thousands of flights, many of them over tens of thousands of kilometers, and in any one year we only have a handful of serious incidents. That should be hardly surprising considering just how advanced modern aircraft are although I always feel it bears repeating whenever anyone questions the safety of air travel. Realistically it’s probably the safest way to get yourself across the globe and, if you get on the right aircraft, it can be one of the most pleasurable.
Now I just have to find out how to get cheap business class seats on the A380.
