The problem with the news is that it takes a selective viewpoint. News editors are in the business of selling papers and grabbing viewers, and the best way to do this is by using highly emotive language and pictures. And it is not just the 'tabloids' that are prone to this - every news agency in the world tends to 'sensationalise' the story to increase the emotional impact.

Consider the following descriptions. First, one we have adapted from various news reports...

"A passenger plane has crash-landed short of a runway at Heathrow Airport, after both engines were reported to have shut down. The captain, one of BA’s most experienced pilots with nearly 20 years service, glided the plane safely to the ground in a controlled crash landing, and is being hailed as a hero. All 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped from the British Airways flight, and eighteen people were treated for minor injuries."

and this one from the Telegraph Online

"A British Airways pilot has been credited with saving hundreds of lives after he safely crash-landed a passenger jet at Heathrow Airport despite a catastrophic last-minute malfunction. The Boeing 777 suddenly "shut down" as it approached the runway, but the captain, Peter Burkill, managed to "glide" the airliner over houses, airport buildings and a busy road before "belly flopping" it onto grass just 50 yards inside the perimeter fence. One wing was almost ripped away as flight BA038 from Beijing landed 400 yards short of the runway and its rear undercarriage sheared off as it skidded a quarter of a mile to a halt. Incredibly all 136 passengers walked away virtually unscathed after they were evacuated via the emergency chutes. The incident – the most serious at Heathrow in decades..."
(emphasis added)

Which one has the most impact?

What the media never report are the thousands and thousands of flights that takeoff and land safely around the world every single day. Flying is by far the safest way to travel, and according to statistics, a person is more likely to die putting their trousers on than in a plane crash..

So what is going on here? Why are we so affected by these incidents?

Quite simply, our minds pay more attention to the emotional impact of something than the probability of it occuring. So when we are bombarded by these selective news reports and images, all with highly emotional content, our minds fixate on the emotional aspect and we forget that what we are watching is actually extremely unlikely.

As far as our mind is concerned, every time we see a report or images of an incident, it thinks it is all happening again!

So what can you do?

If you have a fear of flying, or find yourself worrying when such incidents occur, the best thing you can do is:

avoid watching the news

Think of it this way - flying is statistically proven to be over 44 times safer than driving a car. So why is it that we jump into our cars without a thought, but find planes a problem? Do you think it would be different if every car crash on our roads was reported in the same sensational way that air crashes are?

Let us have your thoughts in a comment below