The pilot of an airliner is responsible for the safety of passengers.

A passenger airplane took off for the USA.

To fly big passenger airliners calls for long training and experience.

Boeing, which builds more than half the world's commercial airliners, is understandably keen to draw attention to what can go wrong besides planes.

In the case of commercial airplanes, private companies compete to sell their product.

Crashes in the early days of commercial jets tended to be caused by technical faults, such as metal fatigue in the airframe or engines.

A recent analysis by Boeing forecasts that unless safety is improved, jet airliners could be falling out of the sky at the rate of once a week by the year 2010.

A stewardess was rescued from the wreck.