How safe is it, really?

"Judah" wrote in message
. ..

You seem to insist that flying is inherently more dangerous than other
modes of transportation, but fail to quote any sources or relevant
statistics.

I'm with Mike on this. Flying is higher risk than gardening. That doesn't
mean we should all switch to growing tomatoes.

are caused by "pilot error". But living in the New York area, I am much
more sensitive to the fact that many accidents in high traffic areas are
caused by errors of ANOTHER driver.

Living in Boston I am sensitive to the fact that people around me drive like
maniacs. (I on the other hand am merely defensively aggressive) It still
doesn't mean flying is safer. There is virtually no trip in an airplane that
can't be made safer by car or airliner. Unless you live in Alaska, flying in
a small plane for transportation is done for benefits other than risk
reduction.

Accidents like these are not very likely in GA aircraft. I can't think of
any situation in an airborne craft when you would be 2 seconds away from
the plane in front of you. And while there are unquestionably mechanical
failures that will most likely lead to an accident in an airplane, such as
a failed engine, or failed instruments, there are also failures in

automobiles that lead to accidents. Some years back, Audi was sued because
of failures related to their accelerator and brakes that led to
fatalities.

Yet another one of the great myths invented by the plaintiff's bar. Despite
untold thousands of hours of tests, they were never able to replicate this
problem. It ruined Audi's sales here for most of a decade though. Damn shame
as they are among the most wonderfully engined machines on four wheels.

Tire blowouts can be serious. Sure an engine out is not as likely to cause
a fatality on the ground as it is on the air, but a brake failure on a car
is much worse in a car on a highway than in a plane in the air (or even on
the ground for that matter!).

Passenger cars and trucks have dual brake systems. I lost one side of the
system in an F-150 on a nice steep hill headed towards a busy intersection.
Had no trouble stopping in time. In fact still had enough brakes to drive it
to the dealership (I took it slow). I don't lose a moment's sleep on
mechanical failures in cars and I drive a middle-aged Ford Escort on which I
avoid every repair that isn't necessary to pass inspection or get rid of a
noise that might embarass me on a date.

Frankly I don't worry so much about mechanicals in my airplane either
because I don't spare a dime on maintenance of critical systems. I worry
about failure of the primary FMS, aka the pilot, aka Me. Even if I do have a
mechanical failure it's likely that the decisions I make will have a large
impact on how it turns out.

(ie: control my fate)?" And if someone doesn't understand the hows and
whys
of flying, they will believe it to be out of their control, and be afraid
of it.

The answer is education...

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned
into." (Jonathan Swift)

-cwk.