"Michael" wrote in message
oups.com...
Gary Drescher wrote:
What that suggests is that flying
simple planes, maintaining proficiency, and having conservative standards
regarding weather adds up to a fatality rate that is only slightly
greater
than that of driving.

If that were truly the way to go, then self-flown business travel would
be far more dangerous than personal flying - the planes are generally
faster and more complex, and the pilots generally are under pressure to
be there on time and will push weather more. But the reality is very
different.

So I would suggest that while maintaining proficiency may well be
important (those who fly for business tend to fly much more than those
who only fly for personal reasons) simple planes and conservative
standards buy you little if anything.

If self-flown business travel is also relatively safe, then there seem to be
at least two distinct modes of flying that are safer than the GA
average--instructional flying (with novice pilots but with simple planes and
conservative standards) and business travel (with more advanced aircraft and
more-experienced pilots).

--Gary