"birdog" wrote in message
.. .
"NrDg" wrote in message
m...
What I have heard and believe myself is that the risk of death is
similar for both activities on average. Hazards are different. Private
pilots tend to do themselve in with their own mistakes. Riders get got
by others a lot more.

I just got to jump in on this. I've been both ways - motorcycles and light
planes.

In flying, you can make a lot of small mistakes with pleanty of time to
correct them. If you are a careful pilot and do everything right, your
chances of dying at an advanced age in bed are very good. Chances of
mechanical failure are very rare today, and a midair is even more rare.
The careful pilot MIGHT be run down by a descending airliner.

These are not the types of things that gets pilots. The major problems are
mental and likely involve weather in one way or the other. A strong desire
to get home when the weather is marginal. Flying too low under a cloud
layer - scudrunning - and hitting something poking up from the ground or the
ground itself. Loosing control by flying in the clouds without sufficient
instrument training. Flying in clouds in icing conditions. Getting caught in
a thunderstorm cell. Flying into an invisible rotor mountain flying. Taking
off too heavy for current temperature and wind and runway too short. Yah if
you only fly day VFR with no wind and clouds you are very safe. If you want
practical transportation you need to nip at the weather / ability boundary
and may risk getting in over your head if you evaluate the situation
incorrectly.

On a motorcycle, you can do everything EXACTLY right, and still have a
good chance of disaster. Road conditions around a curve, driver pulling in
front of you, crowding you in passing. During the summer here in East
Tennessee, seldom a week goes by that there isn't a fatality reported in
the paper. Ever ride on a country road in the fall after leaves cover the
road, and wet with rain? These things are killing machines - talk to
anyone in an emergence room. But, hell yes they are fun.

You can reduce your risk significanly in the face of perverse actions of
others but yah you are a lot more at risk from the actions of others when
riding. Pilots like to think they are safer than they really are on average.
The average overall risk for both activities is similar.

I gave up the bikes volunterally. Old age took my plane away.

I gave up planes because I needed the money for early retirement. I got into
bikes as a somewhat replacement for flying. If I won the lottery, the first
thing I'd do is buy a plane (and keep the bike).