2014: one of the safest years for flying despite MAS tragedies

Kuala Lumpur

IF YOU weren't already nervous about flying, that may have changed in 2014, a year that stirred our deepest fears about modern jet travel despite shaping up as one of the safest in aviation history.

The tragic dramas surrounding Malaysia Airlines, in particular, played out before unprecedented global television and Internet audiences, confronting the travelling public with the startling truth that planes can be shot down or simply disappear.

2014's events triggered the first major worldwide reviews of aviation precautions in years and gave aerophobes a new reason to tense up on take-off.

"I always disliked flying but now it's a real ordeal," said Marie Lefebvre, a Bangkok-based Canadian businesswoman who has curtailed her frequent business travel. She now occasionally takes sedatives bef…