These days more people than ever before are traveling by air. With airline deregulation in the United States, many new carriers have entered the market, providing more flights and often cheaper fares. The large increase in the number of flights has not only caused air traffic delays but raised serious questions about air safety.

In the media and the air transport industry, concern has focused on the increased workload for air traffic controllers, on maintenance and pilot-training procedures, and on the fear of midair collisions. The public has been informed that efforts are being made in these areas to ensure the safety of passengers. But how can the person who travels by air feel secure when it seems he is subject to so many factors beyond his control? More to the point, is safety itself an illusive condition—being constantly subject to chance, affected by the environment, or vulnerable to human error?

Safety is often thought of as freedom from danger or from injury. If we want to have this freedom when we fly, or at any other time for that matter, there is a proven guidebook that is immensely practical. It's the Bible, and in it we find numerous instances of God's protecting care and power. This God-provided safety is as much ours to demonstrate today as it was for the individuals we read about in the Bible who relied on God's care centuries ago.

Christ Jesus knew the power of Spirit, God, to be supreme, and he proved it. The supremacy of Spirit provided the foundation for his freedom from fear and harm. Once while at sea, Jesus calmed a raging storm, and at another time he walked unharmed through an angry mob. ^{See Luke 8:22–25; 4:28–30 .}

Today Christian Science explains how we may know and demonstrate God's protecting power. It teaches that the true identity of each of us is wholly spiritual—made, as the Bible says, "in the image of God," ^{Gen. 1:27.} of infinite Spirit. The infinite qualities of God, good, are expressed in man's individuality and in God's harmonious government of man and the universe. Because he reflects God, man has dominion and lives in freedom and safety. Through prayer that acknowledges God as the one Mind, the one perfect Principle, Love, and man as His perfect effect, we increasingly understand such spiritual facts and relinquish the belief that our safety could ever be missing or that we could possibly be outside of divine Love's infinite care. It is through this praying that we can be healed of fear for our safety. Let's look at a few ways.

When we step onto an airplane, we may feel we are taking a chance. If we do, we are believing that there is more than one Mind, or Principle, in control. The subtle suggestion of there being another, limited mind may say, "More than likely nothing bad will happen. The odds are against it." But this faint comfort stems from the belief of chance—of good luck and its counterpart, bad luck. When such thoughts come, we can pray, conscious that man in God's likeness is subject only to God's unerring guidance, not to probabilities and human predictions. Mind's direction is the activity of its infallible, self-enforcing law, which is infinitely present and nullifies the so-called law of chance.

Then there's the fear that environmental conditions such as weather can affect our safety. We probably don't think much about the weather when we're flying on a beautiful, clear day. But what about times when adverse weather conditions such as storms and high winds threaten? Instead of believing ourselves at the mercy of destructive material forces, we can recognize that we are surrounded by and under the authority of divine Love alone. The Bible tells us, "In him [God, Spirit] we live, and move, and have our being." ^{Acts 17:28.} Spiritual man moves within the allness of Love's goodness, where God's law of harmony rules. Therefore divine law can be proved supreme over the so-called laws of nature. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy provides us with this spiritual definition of wind: "That which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things." ^{Science and Health, p. 597.}

Then, what about human errors on the part of pilots, air traffic controllers, mechanics, and others? How do we deal through prayer with such threats to safety as carelessness, inattention, apathy? We do it by acknowledging that man, as Mind's infinite expression, reflects God's unerring government, in which there are no lapses or mistakes. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God's government." ^{Ibid., p. 393.}

An airline pilot who is a Christian Scientist had an experience while flying that showed him the importance of prayer and of understanding God's protecting presence. After he took off with a planeload of passengers, his company radioed him that one of the main landing-gear wheel assemblies had fallen off the aircraft during takeoff and had been found at the side of the runway. The pilot was immediately grateful that this had not happened later, when the wheel could have fallen on an inhabited area under the flight path.

The maintenance people soon radioed to say that the main gear axle had apparently broken, which caused the wheel to fall off, and the soundness of the remaining wheel on that side was in doubt.

During this time the pilot was praying, acknowledging that the divine Mind was in complete control. Through his daily prayer he was becoming increasingly aware that the Christ, the spirit of God, revealing God's infinite presence, is our constant comfort. Furthermore, he knew that God's law is fixed in Principle yet always dynamic and in operation, never static or limited in scope. This law of Love is all-embracing, maintaining and promoting harmony instead of discord or confusion. He knew that by trusting in it he would be able to act in a purposeful, intelligent manner.

At this point there was a discussion of what procedures to follow in case the remaining wheel should separate during landing, which could possibly cause the landing gear to collapse. Appropriate emergency briefings were given to the cabin crew and passengers. All during this time the following verse from the Bible kept coming to the pilot's thought: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." ^{Deut. 33:27.} This angel message gave the pilot assurance that God, divine Love, was holding him and each one of His children securely. As he thought about and prayed with this truth, the pilot knew it was law to the human situation and would bring about a harmonious solution to the problem. This proved to be the case. The remaining wheel stayed intact during the landing, and the aircraft was taxied in safely.

Whatever mode of travel we need to use, we can be confident that safety is a demonstrable fact—that our well-being is totally governed not by human circumstances but by divine law.