WASHINGTON — The odds of a flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport crashing on any given day is one in 2,784,692, according to “Am I Going Down?”, a new iOS app.
The app’s developer, Nic Johns, told CNN he developed it to alleviate the fears of anxious fliers.
The 99-cent app incorporates data collected by the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives, the National Transportation Safety Board and the International Civil Aviation Organization, Johns says.
Users enter where their flight originates and ends, as well as the airline and type of aircraft.
According to the app, a flier from DCA to JFK could expect to go down if he took this flight every day for 7,629 years.
“In developing ‘Am I Going Down?’ I wanted to present the fact that the vast majority of flights are incredibly low risk,” says Johns. “Our app is meant as a tool to help reassure fearful fliers.”
Johns says one main goal of creating the app was to help cure his wife’s fear of flying.
He acknowledges the timing of the app’s release was awkward, coming days after AirAsia flight QZ8501 went down. The airline has been “temporarily removed” from the app.
Currently, the app is only available in iOS, although an Android version is possible if the app is successful, Johns says.
