Airline Safety Data Visualization

For this project, I was given a scenario based on a 2014 article by Nate Silver about the media’s unfair portrayal of airline safety after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed in Ukraine.

The Scenario

Due to recent unfortunate airline crashes, the media has been promoting statistics stating air is no longer a safe way to travel. The news and media outlets have been bombarding the public with reports and figures about the trends of airline safety and that things are not looking good. What was previously thought as the safest way to travel, especially when compared to automobiles, is now being presented as one of the most dangerous to the public. But are any of these claims based on facts?

You work for an airline on the data science team as a data analyst and are a resident data visualization expert. You have been tasked with helping multiple groups in the organization combat this negative publicity and help tell the airline’s side of the story. There is a fear internally about what this type of media coverage will do to airline sales and how it could impact the future of the company. Not only do they need you to help create some internal communications, but you will also be tasked with what is published to the public and the media.

The Data

The first dataset was included in Nate Silver’s article and was mandatory for this project:

Aviation Safety Network statistics for airline fatalities

Additionally, I was required to use one supplemental dataset for my visualizations, so I settled on highway fatality data to contrast the airline statistics:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics for fatal crashes

Tasks

Use the data to create compelling graphics in Tableau
Create a blog post that an airline could use to spread through online news sources, social media, etc.
- Must use at least two graphics created from the data
- The blog post should be a minimum of 500 words
Create an infographic that can be shared in print, like in airports, as well as social media
- Must use at least six graphics created from the data
- Should follow the design aesthetic of the blog post