From CNN Correspondent Anne McDermott
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Car accidents are something we just seem to accept. But if a plane has an accident, that's unacceptable.
It doesn't happen often, and the possibility doesn't seem to bother people much -- not when you consider that every month, an estimated 50 million people get on planes in the United States.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board's Jim Hall, flying is very safe.
"I wish all of our transportation vehicles traveled at 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) and we wouldn't be losing the 40,000 individuals that lose their lives annually on highways in America," he said.
But there are areas of concern: one is too many planes. It's not so much that there are on average 20,000 flights a day in the United States, but that so many of the flights are concentrated in hub areas.
"Now airlines want more airplanes of course, because more airplanes means more money," said aviation analyst Michael Barr. "But sooner or later, we're going to have to put a stop to the number of aircraft that are compacted in one area."
Then there's outsourcing -- when airlines farm out maintenance work their own people used to do. Some question whether outsiders' work is as carefully monitored as the airlines' own work was.
A plane collision with an airbridge has added to the list of troubles at Hong Kong's new airport.
"Any of us who fly literally put our lives in the hands of the people who fly the planes and the people who fix the planes," said Patrick Lacefield of the Teamsters Union.
But when asked, many passengers say what's important to them about a flight is the cost of the ticket and that their bags land with them. That's because safety is assumed.
Should safety be an assumption? One expert says, flying is a risk but one he calls a more than acceptable risk.
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