ISRAEL - Airline Safety Innovation
- Arno Froese
- Aug 27
- 3 min read

According to a report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the number of fatal air accidents in 2024 rose to seven with 244 fatalities, compared to 2023’s one fatal accident that resulted in 72 deaths.
In the report, the IATA described the increase as “a top concern for aviation safety requiring urgent global coordination.”
“We are changing the aviation world,” Odysight’s CEO, Col. (ret.) Yehuda Ofer, an entrepreneur and ex-Israeli Air Force pilot, tells ISRAEL21c.
Odysight’s AI-based visual sensing technology monitors the conditions and critical safety components of hard-to-reach environments, such as planes, for the early detection of potential malfunctions that could lead to accidents.
“Our algorithm creates not only an alert in real time for the anomaly, but also a prediction, which is a crucial part of the technology. If you can see things that are there, but normally cannot be monitored, you have very valuable data for all the chain of maintenance,” says Ofer.
Odysight also lowers costs because fewer maintenance personnel are required and the system can be more reliable than human employees, who are less and less inclined to go into this profession.
“Our system does not go out for the weekend, does not drink, does not have a girlfriend; it is just there, watching and monitoring all the time,” adds Ofer.
Odysight recently became the first Israeli startup to announce an initial public offering in 2025, uplisting to Nasdaq with an IPO priced at $21.5 million at a company valuation of $129 million.
-www.israel21c.org, 27 April 2025
Commentary: When one considers that between 12,000-16,000 commercial aircraft are in the air at any given moment around the world, it is actually quite amazing that so few accidents occur. Another source tells us that “there are anywhere from 160,000-200,000 planes landings on a typical day.” When considering miles traveled, air travel is definitely the safest mode of transportation available.
Yet Israel sees the need for AI-based visual sensing technology that will make air travel even safer by helping decrease the possibility of accidents.
While the Bible does not mention anything about aircraft, we are reminded of Isaiah 60:8: “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?” That verse convinced many primitive Jews from Yemen to board planes and fly to Israel.
In our days, Israel operates the world’s most successful air force. There is virtually no one near or even farther away that would challenge the Israeli Air Force.
Going back 77 years, a Google search reveals: “The first fighter aircraft acquired by the Israeli Air Force was the Avia S-199, a Czechoslovakian-built version of the German Messerschmitt Bf 109. These planes were purchased from Czechoslovakia in 1948, shortly after the IAF was formed on May 28, 1948. The first 4 Avia S-199s arrived on May 20, 1948, and were quickly assembled and sent into combat on May 29, just nine days after their arrival. This initial mission aimed to stop an Egyptian army convoy advancing toward Tel Aviv. The attack was a surprise to the Egyptians, who were unaware of the nascent Israeli Air Force’s combat capabilities.”
It is noteworthy that the communist Soviet Union was the first to support Israel by permitting them to buy leftover World War 2 aircraft.
During the Six-Day War in 1967, the most effective fighter jet was the French Mirage. Later in 1973, the US became Israel’s primary supplier of military aircraft. Israel was the first outside of the US to receive the highly sophisticated and effective F-35 stealth fighter jet.
The plane was designed and built by US military contractor Lockheed Martin. According to Wikipedia, the United States was the primary financial backer of the project, but it was built in conjunction with the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Canada, Turkey, Australia, Norway, and Denmark. The US plans to build over 3,100 F-35s by 2035.
What is the future? Not peace through war, but all militaries in the world will see an end when the Prince of Peace will come: “And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Micah 4:3).
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