"ET" wrote in message
...
Jonathan Goodish wrote in
:
Knowing what I know as a certificated pilot, I would be very reluctant
to permit my child(ren) to fly with an unknown pilot. However, I
would much rather have my child(ren) in a single-engine airplane with
a competent pilot than in a car on the highway. There is no doubt in
my mind that there is much less risk in the former than in the latter.
If the competence and proficiency of the pilot is not known, then the
risk is considerably higher.

That just makes too much sense...

Only if you ignore all the actual data that's been discussed here.

In a car, you have at least as much
chance of dying as the result of someone ELSES stupidity as your own,
while in an aircraft the vast majority of possible fatal incidents are
under your direct control as the Pilot....

I can only think of a few instances where someone elses stupidity comes
into play... mid air (contributory), runway incursion,.... of course a
mechanic who screws something up that is not visible on inspection......

The problem is that these "few instances" already add up to a higher
fatality rate *by themselves* than the *total* fatality rate for driving.
All the other, far more common ways to die in an airplane--the pilot
errors--are *in addition* to that already higher rate.

--Gary