Maybe aircraft engines are better built. In my 900+ hours I haven't had
any problems in the air, but I have flown planes that have had failures
in their history. Makes my wonder how long it'll be before my hand is
dealt.

Well you may fly another 35 years and thousands of hours and never have a
problem. The last number I heard is that the average is somewhere are
35,000 hours for every engine failure. (and Im not talking about the running
out of gas, fuel on an empty tank type. Im talking something seriously
broken internally now) Most careers are not close to that. You also might
have one your next flight grin. My career has more less come to an end with
about 2000 hours total time. Only one instrument on the panel never failed
me. I used to be called the jink. If it would break, it would with me in
the airplane. Yet the only serious engine problem I ever had was like most
of them. It wasn't a total but a partial power loss, and trust me a 150 on
2 cylinders doesn't run very well. It did keep me in the air though and got
me to an airport. The trick is to be ready for it anyway.