There is some under-reporting of minor accidents in the UK, and I
expect in almost every country. There is no way of knowing the
extent, but if for example a German poster here were to admit to
knowledge of a minor accident not featured in their national figures,
it would confirm the issue in principle.

I believe that the figures for fatal accidents are unlikely to be
underreported, however. “Serious” accidents might have different
interpretations in different countries; I know of no way to be certain
of that.

So the only reliable statistics seem to me to be fatalities per
100,000 winch launches, which for the UK ought to include the air
cadet figures (no fatalities). I do not know if German data includes
an equivalent to air cadet data which would not be in DAeC
statistics. Perhaps somebody could advise on that.

Furthermore, the only fatalities relevant to these discussions are
those due to the winch launch itself, and not to (for example)
spinning off a final turn at the end of a flight that started with a
winch launch. Paul Ruskin’s analysis sought to do that, it seems to
me, by summarising the actual events.

Chris N