Why you shouldn't be afraid of flying, according to a flight expert

By Emily Kwong,

Jessica Yung, Rebecca Ramirez

Published December 23, 2024 at 9:24 AM EST

Many Americans are afraid of flying — yet for many, it's a key form of travel for work or get home to loved ones for the holidays.

There are many statistics out there that prove that flying on a commercial airplane is safe, that plane crashes are, on the whole, pretty unlikely. But still, up to an estimated 40% of Americans feel some fear at the thought of flying.

So amid the travel rush of the holiday season, we ask MIT aeronautical engineer Mark Drela once and for all: How does a plane lift off and stay up in the air?

Interested in more stories on physics? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear from you!

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This episode was produced by Jessica Yung and edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer.

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Emily Kwong

Emily Kwong (she/her) is the reporter for NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave. The podcast explores new discoveries, everyday mysteries and the science behind the headlines — all in about 10 minutes, Monday through Friday.

See stories by Emily Kwong

Jessica Yung

Jessica (she/her) is a producer for the Short Wave. She got her start in radio as a producer at Gimlet's narrative technology podcast Reply All, working on stories about QAnon, video games, cryptic tweets, and more. For the past two years, she has taught podcast production to high schoolers at Harlem Children's Zone, where she guided her students through making personal pieces about topics like jumping the MTA turnstile and complicated relationships with parents. Before she came to radio, she worked in print media, through various jobs at literary magazines and book publishers.

Rebecca Ramirez

Rebecca Ramirez (she/her) is the founding producer of NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave. It's a meditation in how to be a Swiss Army Knife, in that it involves a little of everything — background research, finding and booking sources, interviewing guests, writing, cutting the tape, editing, scoring ... you get the idea.

See stories by Rebecca Ramirez