Aviation experts say some recent airline accidents with few or no fatalities show that the chances of surviving crashes are better than ever.

They say fuselages are stronger, fire-retardant technology has been improved and plane crews are better trained to deal with disaster.

"Clearly, this is not just a matter of luck," William Voss, a former Federal Aviation Administration official who is president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Va., said Wednesday after most passengers and crew survived a jetliner crash in the Netherlands.

Many accidents don't have such outcomes, of course. Just two weeks ago, a commuter airliner crashed while trying to land in Buffalo, N.Y., killing all 49 people on the plane and a man on the ground.

But authorities say commercial flying is at its safest in a 100-year history.

"Contrary to popular belief, most aircraft crashes are now survivable," said Gideon Ewers, spokesman for the London-based International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations.

Survivable crashes
Experts say most survivable accidents occur at or near airports, generally when a problem occurs during take-off or landing but pilots are able to maintain control, maneuvering to soften the final impact.

On Wednesday, a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 slammed into a muddy field just two miles from the runway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Most of the 134 people on board survived, with nine people killed. More than 50 suffered injuries.

The 7-year-old airliner is part of Boeing's 737 family of jets, which first entered service 40 years ago. But the 737 has been extensively re-engineered and redesigned since its introduction, and the current version bears little resemblance to the 1960s-era original.

In the case of Flight TK1951, the fuselage broke into three large pieces, cracking along stress lines just ahead of the wings' leading edges and in front of the tail unit.

It was the latest in a series of accidents the past five years that produced surprisingly few fatalities: