How Safe is Safety Part 3: The Technology on Board

To further back up my point that aircraft are safe, let's look at some of the features typical jet aircraft have. Smaller aircraft occasionally have these features as well. Because I'm feeling lazy I'm going to list all of what I know instead of trying to use lengthy paragraphs:

1.) On board Doppler weather radar (I have no idea what it's called)
2.) auto pilot
3.) airborne distance measuring equipment
4.) stall warning
5.) multiple engines
6.) most large aircraft have some kind of Global Positioning System for navigation
7.) built in slides for passengers to use in emergencies
8.) lighting
9.) oxygen masks available to every passenger and crew member
10.) auto/speed braking systems
11.) de-icing mechanisms for wings
12.) computerized warning systems
13.) ASD B-some aircraft have this (this is surface/aircraft detection equipment)
14.) soon jet aircraft will also have enhanced infrared visibility for bad weather or night departures.
15.) yaw dampers
16.) vortex generators/wing design takes part in enhancing the stability of aircraft
17.) equipment that allows pilots to detect signs of a stall and fix a stall have been developed: the stick shaker and the auto slat gapper (which, if anyone asks what it is, I'm not entirely sure and i only know from one of my classes that it eliminates the threat of the stall).
19.) the structure of airframes and the material the aircraft's body consists of have also been developed with aerodynamics and safety in mind.
20.) wing spoilers
(and more? I'm actually not sure!)

Of course, with all these things in a single aircraft and more being developed, its no wonder their gross weight is so high and their systems so intricate. The bigger the aircraft, the more wiring it contains. A 747 has about 250 MILES of wiring. A Dash 8 has about 23 miles of wiring. MILES! That's a lot of wiring. If you search on google for the amount of wiring in certain types of aircraft, you'll get a wide range of numbers. The bigger the numbers, the more complex they are-but that also means they're very safe. A single aircraft is hard to repair or revamp, true. But, unless there's an accident, the industry hardly ever needs to go that far. And as said before, accidents these past few years have become less, and less, and LESS.

Well I've grown a headache over the day, so this post is done. Next time, I'll be posting significant accidents that we have learned from in the past to give you an idea of where aviation has come safety and technology wise from over the course of history.