How to Find Out If an Airline Is Safe?

Ever asked yourself if that airline you never heard of is actually safe to fly with? Let's say you are looking for budget flight fares for your next trip, found a great deal but you never heard of that airline and you start being hesitant to book...
Flying is of course one the safest mode of transportation and chances you will die in a crash are 1 in millions, but with whom you decide to fly still matters.
Unfortunately, there are no official resources that can answer this question.
Most web searches will lead you either to airline reviews focusing on service and quality (skytrax.
com) or to disaster databases (aviation-safety.
net, airsafe.
com, airdisaster.
com).
Some of the latter services actually provide some safety scores but they are solely based on the historical number of accidents against volume of flights, and as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) points it out, you should not rely on this information:

Rankings of airlines based on past accident records therefore provide no information to consumers seeking to make safety-enhancing comparisons for current or future travel choices

So how to find out then? Well, there are different factors that can help you make a decision: Average Age of Fleet Like a car, the older it gets the more chances something break down and the higher the maintenance costs and efforts.
It's kind of scary to find out that many airlines are still using planes that are 20+ years old.
Airfleets.
net has a large database of fleet information but does not seem to be updated and exhaustive, your best bet is to look at the corresponding airline page on Wikipedia.
org.
Recent accidents / incidents Instead of looking at data dating from the 70s, Wikipedia is a good source of information to find out any recent trend in terms of incidents/accidents.
If an airline starts having many problems this year, perhaps it would be wise to avoid them.
Region While Europe and North America have the best safety records, other regions don't really enjoy a good reputation.
If you are flying to or around a developing region, you should consider having a look at the banned airlines from Europe.
Surprisingly, most airlines from Philippines and Indonesia figure on that list.
Your travel guide is also a good choice for updated safety reviews on domestic airlines.
Pilot skills According to this page, more than 25% of incidents / accidents accounts directly for pilot errors.
Whether you are flying with a low-cost airline and/or within a developing region, chances are that the pilot skills are poorer than you expect.
Here is a recent incident at Air India Express:

On 25 May 2010, an Air India Express Boeing 737-800 flying from Dubai to Pune, India experienced a sudden 7,000 foot drop when the co-pilot bumped the control column while adjusting his seat.
The captain, who was outside of the cockpit at the time of the incident, returned to the cockpit and recovered the 737 from its dive.

So, what is your experience in terms of airline safety? What information are you always looking at and how do you come up with a decision? Looking forward to your comment at http://www.
julien-etienne.
com/blog/2011/06/how-to-find-ou