Sam Spade writes:

The ground controller (same hat as local controller at the time of
night) almost pleaded with the guy to use Runway 30 (the usual IFR
runway, and clear of obstacles).

I wonder if his passengers heard the conversation.

This stuff goes on on the time in G/A. Not by everyone for sure. But,
by enough folks that the hapless passengers is just rolling the dice.

That's why the statistics are so bad. There are plenty of safe pilots
and planes in the world of GA, but there are a few who are idiots
and/or fly poorly maintained aircraft. These generate enough
accidents to skew all the statistics, making GA a hundred times more
dangerous than airline travel.

Unfortunately, many trusting souls have heard that airline travel is
extremely safe (which it is), and have assumed that this applies to
any type of air travel (which it does not).

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