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Worldwide, there were more than 50 fatal airline accidents a year through the early and mid-1990s, claiming well over 1,000 lives annually, according to figures compiled by the Flight Safety Foundation. Fatalities dropped from 1,844 in 1996 to just 59 in 2017, then rose to 561 last year and 209 already this year.See also: Experts puzzled by 2018 spike in air fatalities - 6 big passenger plane crashes
Nearly half of the airline deaths in 2018 and 2019 occurred during the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max jets in Indonesia and Ethiopia. In each case, investigators are examining the role of flight software that pushed the nose of the plane down based on faulty sensor readings.
That raises concern about safety around automated flight controls, said William Waldock, an expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
"Pilots are not being trained as much as pilots as they are system operators and system managers," he said. "So when something happens and the automation fails, they get flummoxed."
Comment: While China may be suffering the worst of plummeting insect numbers, its a similar story throughout much of the 'civilized' world. It's also worth noting that not every decline in insect species has been directly correlated with loss of habitat or excessive use of pesticides and herbicides: Nearly 100 species of frogs, toads and salamanders wiped out by fungus
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