In fact, the National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day hearing starting Wednesday to examine safety issues involving transporting hazardous cargo such as lithium batteries. The session is being held in the wake of a fire aboard a UPS DC-8 in Philadelphia in February.

Despite these dangers, the industry's accident record, and its potentially more far-reaching perils on the ground, have received relatively scant public notice.

LOW PUBLIC PROFILE

"Normally it doesn't get the attention in the news media because there are no passengers involved," said Bart Crotty, a former Federal Aviation Administration inspector who is now an aviation consultant. "Now if he hits a school building or an old-folks home or a church or a synagogue or a mosque, then it would mean something."

"And the FAA is just not riding herd on them," he said.

Advocates fear the only way the FAA will boost oversight is if a cargo plane falls with heavy casualties on the ground. It has nearly happened several times.

In June 2005, an aged DC-3 cargo plane operated by Air Pony Express crashed on a residential Fort Lauderdale street, damaging roofs and scattering debris in driveways, but taking no lives as its wreckage and fuel settled just yards from homes along Northeast 56th Street.

"Shortly after the takeoff, the controller at the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport tower advised the crew that they observed smoke coming from the left engine," the NTSB wrote. "Witnesses on the ground stated they observed smoke coming from the accident airplane, and several cars . were found with oil residue on them."

The landing was described as a miracle, but prosecutors now say the flight was criminal. In April, the U.S. attorney brought a 20-count indictment against pilot Charles Riggs, 63, with 19 charges of operating the aircraft illegally and one of failing to file a required U.S. Customs form.

The pilot maintains his innocence, but prosecutors say the near disaster was a "bandit" flight for profit, with Riggs hauling 3,200 pounds of granite to the Bahamas.

On Aug. 1, 2001, a Bankair Inc. Mitsubishi MU-2 turboprop crashed on the 14th fairway of a golf course in Hilton Head, S.C. Pilot Arie Knoester, 50, was killed, but no one else was hurt just before 8 that morning.

The NTSB cited "improper maintenance" as triggering the "uncontrolled roll, a descent, and an impact with a tree."

"Certainly everybody's goal is zero accidents," said Jeanne Cook, the chief pilot for South Carolina-based Bankair. "I think every operator strives for the maximum level of safety, because the pilot and the aircraft are recognized as assets."

On Aug. 13, 2004, in Kentucky, an Air Tahoma Convair 580 crashed after midnight near the eighth green at the World of Sports golf course, killing copilot Michael Ray Gelwicks. The pilot survived.