BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Air travel... or is it?

In Ukraine, the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17 killed all 298 aboard. Last Wednesday's crash of TransAsia Airways Flight 222 killed 48 in Taiwan, and the day after, Air Algerie Flight 5017 crashed in Mali, leaving 119 dead. Then there's the unexplained loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, with 239 aboard, in March. Different circumstances surround the crashes, but when as many as 704 airline passengers and flight crew lose their lives in the span of 138 days, some travelers might be concerned about the global aviation safety net. They may wonder if, statistically, the skies are getting more dangerous. They may ask themselves - is 2014 trending toward one of the deadliest years in aviation history? Experts say no, don't be nervous. Just look carefully at the chart below:

As you can see, the world has actually been enjoying the safest ever overall period in aviation history. The number of yearly aviation deaths and major plane crashes worldwide has been dropping for decades. Last year, 265 people were killed in flight incidents - the safest year in aviation since 1945. This year to date, the worldwide number of aviation deaths has more than doubled, but it's still relatively low. There have been 764 deaths in 12 commercial aviation accidents in 2014, according to late news reports and the Aviation Safety Network, one of several organizations that tracks these statistics. The data — spanning 1946 to the present — includes hijackings, sabotage, and shoot-downs. Just remember that while air travel's going through a bad patch right now, it's nowhere near as bad as it was in 1972 and 1985.