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...how used to safe air travel we have become.

The plane that crashed today was a MD-11. It was originally made by McDonnell Douglas--hence the MD badge--and later made by Boeing. It is a very large airplane.

The MD-11 is 200 feet long and 58 feet tall with a wingspan of 169 feet. It has a maximum takeoff weight of around 602,500 lbs., a maximum altitude of 42,000 ft., and a maximum range of up to 7,130 nautical miles.

It can hold 38,615 U.S. gallons of jet fuel. This one was headed to Hawaii and probably close to fully fueled. That is the equivalent of 2,400 passenger cars worth of fuel.

The fact that we can design, build and fly a jet like this--much less do it safely over 99% of the time--is a marvel of modern engineering.

My heart goes out to the families of everyone involved--and to the UPS pilot community. Every pilot I know accepts this risk as part of the job--but would not do anything else.