I strongly doubt the planes of today present the vulnerabilities of last century. Those lessons were leant and applied. Today's airplanes have different issues and policy should better be about the current issues (and crashes) otherwise it would be outdated and obsolete.
But my analogy was about recommending flying or not flying: you should base that recommendation on the safety of today's airplanes, not on the crashes of the past (even if those crashes enabled the current safety level).
His point was the regulation of planes, not the planes themselves. Which is effectively what forms the "safety of today's planes" that you are looking for.
But my analogy was about recommending flying or not flying: you should base that recommendation on the safety of today's airplanes, not on the crashes of the past (even if those crashes enabled the current safety level).