snipped..
I wonder how much of flying's apparent dangers (and motorcycles' too?)
comes not from the vehicle but from the driver?

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

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I've been riding motorcycles an average of 10,000 miles a year for 35
years. I have been flying for 1.5 years and I've thought a lot about
the similarities and relative dangers involved in each.

I do ascribe to the premise that they are approximately equal in
danger level to the participant. That, however, is based upon pure
numbers without any regard for other factors. While deaths may be
statistically equivalent there is a very significant difference
between the two activities. When flying, your fate is much more in
your hands than it is when your driving a motorcycle. When I fly, I
know that if I am going to die on that flight that the probability of
my death being the result of my own error is extremely high. While
driving my motorcycle, I am much more at the mercy of what is going on
around me and, if I die on that ride, there is a much greate chance
that my death is the result of something other than my own error.
That's not to say that bikers don't screw up and kill themselves, but
there are many, many incidents where bikers are killed by deer,
drunks, people running lights, "Officer, I never saw the bike", and so
on.

The net result is that, even though I have vastly more experience on
the bike (almost a Dudley-esque level), I feel safer when I am flying
because I know that I have a greater degree of control over my
destiny.

Rich Russell