A recent string of inflight safety emergencies has thrust United Airlines into the spotlight, leading some travelers to worry that the airline, and even commercial air travel in general, has perhaps become less safe.Last week, a United flight lost a rear tire during takeoff in San Francisco and made an emergency landing in Los Angeles, marking the airline's fourth mishap in one week.
'We see these kinds of events happen, and not all of them were preventable from United's perspective,' Mark Millam, director of technical programs at the Flight Safety Foundation, told CBS MoneyWatch. 'These incidents aren't enough to come to some determination on one airline's performance versus another's. There are not any clear signals that United has any different performance than another airline,' Millam added.