"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...
The third is the tricky one. Do you attempt to allay prospective
passengers' fears by telling them that flying with you is safe? I cannot
do this: if someone wants to fly with me, I'm all for it, but I'm not
going to talk anyone into it.

Same here. When pilots are dismissive of others' safety concerns, it's
disconcertingly reminiscent of stereotypical drug-use peer-pressure in high
school: what's the matter, are you chicken?

But if prospective passengers ask, I'll say that I think it's reasonably
safe. I think the type of flying I do with passengers is going to be at
least as safe as student flying, so I cite 1 in 250,000 as my best estimate
of their chance of getting killed if they go for a one-hour flight with me.
But I don't presume to try to persuade them as to whether that risk is worth
taking.

--Gary