Are big jets safer than smaller jets?

The teterboro crash was caused by things like wind shear, is this less of a problem for a 737 for instance?

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In some sense larger airplanes do better in these types of situations, but at the end of the day they are all airplanes and adverse weather can affect any size airplane. There have been several large airliners to crash over the years due to windshear, especially before there was onboard detection equipment.

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The final report won’t be out for a year. While windshear may have contributed, the winds were not that extreme and nothing a good pilot in a Cessna 172 couldn’t handle. We’ll have to wait and see but I don’t make it a habit of Monday Morning quarterbacking any pilot until I have ALL the facts.

Adam

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I would say a host of other factors play a much bigger role than size when it comes to overall “safety”. Redundancy of essential systems, single engine performance at V1 (or anywhere really) , glide, etc.

There are situations I’d rather be in a Citation and there are nearly as many I’d rather be in a 777. Problem is you can’t pick the emergency that’s going to happen.

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