Flying within south east Asia this summer

I don't know about Cambodia or Vietnam, but I do know that the trains in China don't have a particularly good safety record either... and I can't imagine driving there is all that safe.

Even with a fairly poor air safety record, you're probably better off flying, from a statistical point of view. Of course, take that with a grain of salt, as I haven't looked closely.

 

I'd rent a car. At least then you are in control ...

I believe it is equally about where you fly out of, sorry. I had a close mate that worked for Air New Zealand maintenance at New Zealand's Auckland airport and there was a list of minimal requirements that were mandatory before any plane could leave that airport.

With some airlines this caused some interesting repairs as they had to swap things from side to side to meet this requirement, but if flying out of somewhere else this might not have happened (?). He used to really enjoy that stuff as it was more interesting than just running a cleaning rag over an Air NZ plane.

I feel equally safe leaving any Australian or New Zealand airport because of this, but note this was over 20 years ago.

Best
Pete

 

Roads aren't great and taxis can be scary.
I've flown internally in Malaysia and China on nice modern aircraft.
I'd do my research and fly.....

 

I'd encourage you to fly. Despite headline grabbing accidents in my experience flight was the safest method of transport, and it's far quicker and much more comfortable. If you've not experienced roads in developing SEAsia (or even developed Thailand or China) you have no idea what you are in for- while in Hanoi I witnessed a serious accident; the unfortunate moped driver was unceremoniously dragged to the side and traffic moved on. Roads can be poorly marked and maintained, choked with traffic that can be anything from an elephant or oxcart to a speeding luxury SUV, your bus may well be poorly maintained and ancient and your driver may be far from sober to keep up with a grueling schedule. If your driver isn't the big truck driver may well be.

If you want a different travel experience by all means take the bus or train but be under no illusions that it's at all safer. Flight is the top of the transport pyramid.

 

IMO anytime you fly outside of the US your risks increase. Statistically speaking however, flying is still very safe.

 

In the last year I've flown internally throughout China and Vietnam on various of those countries' airlines, and had no problems. The flights were all on modern 737s or Airbuses, and I would not hesitate to do it again and again.

 

Really?

Europe isn't that bad also.....

 

Disagree. I've flown on American Airlines planes in America and they were visually poorly maintained, plus add the history of United and your comments can only be patriotic.

My friend who used to be a maintenence worked at Auckland airport enjoyed working on (I think) American Airlines planes because they had so many problems.

What the US does have is lots of airports and little water to fly over so if something does go wrong there are options.
Pete

 

This is the right decision. Done bit of this over the last yer or two. Phenom Penh to Angkor Wat, much less than an hour on a new Airbus. Recently HCM city to Mui Ne beach town, long torturous bus ride (it is always hours longer than they tell you BTW), though we'd take the train back-faster, safer, more scenic, which it was until we hit a truck at a crossing and killed one of the drivers.

Fly, take the state airline-do not fly Viet Jet, only Vietnam airlines in Vn. Flew Viet Jet once HCM city to Hanoi-two outgoing flights cancelled, three on the return. All flights are cancelled till they have enough stranded people to fill the plane. They will tell you "weather" problems (whilst Vin Airline and Air Asia leave the same airport for the same destination at the same time) or mechanical, but the truth is there business model is to offer a ton of flights, but only make a third of them when they have full planes.

 

You might want to research the safety record of US major airlines... the service isn't great, the cosmetics may not be the best, but the safety record is excellent.

 

I have no intention of starting an argument, but what do you consider excellent to be?

I do realise and appreciate that the number of flights per day in America must be enormous!
Pete

 

I agree and disagree here. You are in control of your vehicle and what you do. You are NOT in control of what those around you will do.

I'm not sure of this area but how are the roads? Traffic? ambush?

Just thoughts to consider.

Example: Driving Toronto - Milwaukee (1000km) we were in Michigan in the evening and my brother was handling the driving. We have done LOTS of road trips so we know the role a passenger plays. I saw a car in front of us (right lane) moving a little more left to right than I would like. We were in the left lane about to overtake but I told him to hold. Gave it a minute until he settled and moved right a bit than we past him quickly.

Not even 3 minutes later I see him ( I was keeping an eye on him ) swerve right and slowly drift left...and left...and left..into the wooden barriers. All we heard was bang bang bang the guy took out atleast 3 of them. We called the police and kept on our way (we saw plenty of cars behind him).

Had we not kept an eye for this he would have easily just hit us.

 

Headlines will always be made by an airline crash but don't let it fool you. It's been a bad year for aviation but most people forget how many planes fly per day.

For example Toronto Pearson airport alone has 706 flights departing today. Three major incidents TODAY and in ONLY TORONTO would give mean that you have a 0.42% of being in one.

After my incident with smoke in the plane I was a little nervous getting back into a plane. But with my lady and job I was just used to flying. Just look at the numbers and (if you have the time) just see how many flights truly go in and out a day.

 

I am a motorcyclist, or was, so live with that every day. That is how you have to ride to stay alive, ie. everybody is trying to kill you and you are the only one who can save you.

As soon as you forget that when riding you put yourself at considerable risk. Anyway it reads like there are considerable risks driving in south east Asia also, and yes I agree with other posters that one aircraft incident generates considerable headlines while thousands of other flights continue with no incident. Also it appears that the recent incident involved the pilots turning off the wrong engine ... very sad.
Pete

 

I know the feeling. I felt a lot safer flying home from Montreal (2 weeks go) on the 737 vs the way to Montreal on a Dash-8.

If that is an issue maybe plan around that. Look who flies where using what plane. You may find yourself comfortable with a mix of car and plane (depending on where the planes fly).

I'm so full of relative examples today I'll share another one.

Toronto to Ottawa has lots of options for big name jets such as the A320. Toronto to Montreal has a few but most consist of Regional Jets/Dash-8's. Ottawa to Montreal is approx 200km in distance.

Now if that is your worry a balance of flying to Ottawa on an Airbus and driving to Montreal from there might be the best option.

Best tool I use for air travel to compare/search is Google ( https://www.google.ca/flights/ )

 

Vietnam Airlines uses ONLY Boeing, Airbus and ATR aircraft.

Dumped the soviet planes many years ago.

 

Start with not killing any passengers. I could be wrong, but I don't think a US major airline has had a passenger fatality since 2001-- that's almost 14 years!

There have been a couple of US regional airlines which have had fatal accidents, but even then think it's been 5 years since they've had a passenger fatal.

 

It's my opinion. The condition of the aircraft paint has nothing to do with how the aircraft is mechanically maintained. The guy in the right seat of the new aircraft you were digging so much probably has less then 500 hrs of flight time. We train them over here, then send them back with 250 hours total time and a commercial certificate.

I also take into account the ATC system.

 

I flew American Airlines from LA to Chicago and back around 10 to 12 years ago. I was seated at the back of a plane that had engines on the side of the fuselage. No idea what is was, but the engine cover had screws missing.

I put more weight on the engineer that designed the plan than the engineer that works on it, so if the engineer designed it so it had N screws then the maintenance engineer should ensure it is assembled with N screws. We are not talking about a Chevy pickup here.

Hardly helps confidence when you look out your window and notice things like that (and I have to point out that QANTAS dropped covers off an engine I think last year so I assume that N-C screws were used, where C was simply too many). But I'm still here and both AA flights were good flights .
Pete

 

First, I would like to explain that in this country the engineers are those who are graduates of college level studies that take four to five years to successfully complete. Those who maintain the structures and machines that the graduate engineers design are referred to as mechanics or technicians. They have not achieved the academic levels that the graduate engineers have achieved. That is not to demean them because there must be a means to translate the designs into hardware. A good mechanic or technician is highly prized in the company for whom I worked for without them a design would go nowhere. Operational hardware is maintained by the mechanics and those for whom they work have the responsibility to set standards to which the mechanics and technicians must perform. Any failure at this level has to be placed at the feet of the controlling organization. Failures of the design concepts naturally would be the fault of the company that approved of the design in the first place. I'm not familiar with N-screws and C-screws but whatever was omitted on the cowling is definitely the fault of the mechanics who maintain the equipment. I'm not trying to be professorial here, I simply wanted to separate responsibilities and functionalities. In the 48 years that I worked in the aircraft industry, I went from mechanic to technical designer and I saw the good and the not so good and realized how effective a good leader is and how important good checkers and inspectors are.

 

Completely agree, and it's the same down here. I should have said Maintenance Technician/Mechanic. You have to have an engineering degree to be called an Engineer as you say. I have a certificate in mechanical engineering so know full well that I can not consider myself an engineer.
Pete

 

I just took a flight on a B17, built in 1945 at Saraota. A bit noisy but still fit for service. It is all about the ground crew.

Just enjoy the destination, and the people, sights and esp the local food.

Gerrit