Steve Holt didn't need Tuesday's American Eagle commuter crash to swear him off small planes.
The computer consultant still shudders over the flight he and a colleague took home to Raleigh-Durham, N.C., six weeks ago. While landing in a pounding rainstorm, the plane swayed violently to and fro.
"We were scared to death," says Holt, boarding a jet in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
"There's been a lot of commuters dropping and we're worried. We would change airlines before we would do another commuter again."
The second commuter airline crash in as many months may persuade some to skip the so-called "puddle jumpers."
According to a CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 84% of the 522 people in the survey said four airline crashes since July 2 won't deter them from flying regular airlines.
By comparison, 57% of those surveyed said they would not be deterred from flying on a commuter airline. But 17% said they'd wait five hours to avoid commuter airlines.
As millions head home for the holidays, last month's warning by a passenger group to avoid planes with fewer than 31 seats seems eerily prescient.
"People may be taking an extra Alka Seltzer before they get on," says Doug Cody of Carlson-Wagonlit Travel. "It's human nature. When anything like this happens, people can get nervous."
So far this year, 259 people have been killed in crashes involving large and small airplanes operating on regularly scheduled routes. That makes 1994 one of the deadliest years on record for U.S. commercial aviation, according to National Transportation Safety Board preliminary statistics.
Although air travel remains safer than driving, last year commuter airlines had nearly double the number of accidents than did major airlines.
Still, says Federal Aviation Administration chief David Hinson, considering up to 9,000 civilian aircraft are in the air over the USA at any one time, accidents remain "extremely rare events."
Transportation Secretary Federico Pena says safety statistics "have little meaning at a time like this. They cannot console the bereaved - or sustain the public confidence this industry needs."
Wednesday, Pena announced new safety standards for commuter planes and ordered inspections of all commercial aviation increased. His decision follows last week's grounding of more than 150 ATR airplanes - the craft involved in October's American Eagle crash in Roselawn, Ind.
Ross Read, who waited Wednesday at foggy Raleigh-Durham International Airport for his wife's commuter flight from Baltimore, would prefer riding on larger planes.
"She must be fit-to-be-tied coming in on a commuter now, especially with the weather," he said. "I don't think I'd want to fly one. I'd rather get on a 50-ton rock than a one-ton rock."
But many in small and mid-sized cities have no choice. In Rockford, Ill., travelers either fly commuters or hit the road.
Today, Lynn Johnson and Mike Ebersole - who plan to marry in Las Vegas - ride a chartered bus to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, 1 1/2 hours away. They had planned to take an American Eagle ATR.
"This will take longer, but it's OK," says Johnson. "I'd rather be safe and take a bus."
Yet, such alternatives aren't practical for many. `I can't imagine wholesale numbers of people deciding not to visit grandma because they would have to take a commuter," says Cody.
Contributing: Carol J. Castaneda, K.V. Johnson, Leo Mullen, Carolyn Pesce and Sandra Sanchez
The new fear of flying
Some air travelers are shying away from commuter airlines after two crashes in as many months, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows.
Compared to a few years ago, do you have more confidence or less confidence in the safety provided by the airlines?
More 26%
Less 44%
No charge 26%
After recent commuter airline crashes, are you less likely to fly on a major commercial airline, or not?
Less likely 14%
Not less likely 84%
As a result of those crashes, are you less likely to fly on a commuter airline?
