How safe is it, really?

"Dan Luke" wrote:
Just for fun, ask yourself these three questions: How many celebrities do
you know of that have died in GA accidents?

This isn't really an accurate way to judge *anything* (see below), but
just to play along, let's at least add the limitation "in the last 45
years":

As Pilot in Command (I'm sure there are more, but these are the only two
that come to mind):
1. John Denver
2. John Jr.

As a passenger (where they're hopping on board something that will
either get them home or on to the next destination to meet a schedule
.... how many pleasure pilots like the one the *original poster* wrote
about begin their flights with those time constraints?):
1. Rick Nelson
3. Stevie Ray Vaughan
4. Aliyah
5. Randy Rhoads (guitarist for Ozzy Osborne)
6. Buddy Holly

How many in car crashes?

1. Princess Grace
2. Princess Diana
3. Cliff Burton (Metallica)
4. Michael Hedges (guitarist)
5. Jayne Mansfield

How much time do celebrities spend traveling in GA aircraft vs traveling in
cars?

Probably a lot more in aircraft (GA or otherwise).
Designate any other *select group* of people who travel in conjunction
with work or for pleasure -- let's say, the top-5 executives of all
major corporations -- over the past 45 years, and I'm sure, if there
were a way to track it, you'd have a similar number that have had
plane/car crashes, we just haven't made mental note of those because
they simply aren't as noteworthy to us.

As Richard Collins noted in a recent article in Flying Magazine, anyone who
has been heavily involved in aviation for decades will know more people that
have died in plane crashes than have died in car crashes, even though most
people they know don't fly.

Yes, but again, that's not a fair representation of anything. While
pilots represent a small percentage of the total population, the flying
community of "anyone who has been heavily involved in aviation for
decades" stretches far and wide -- most people who fly either know or
know-of other pilots at their airport and at other airports at close AND
distant locations. It's not unusual, if you've been "heavily involved
for decades", to know, or know OF the pilot when an accident occurs. How
many people at your airport or at other airports have you met and BS'ed
with, even if just about how they burned your toast at the Hangar Café?
If something happens to them, you will remember them or their airplane.
But if you BS with someone at the grocery store or at a friend's party,
unless there was something particularly noteworthy about them, odds are
you wouldn't remember them 5 or 10 years later if they die in a car
crash.

That flying community that is built over "decades" encompasses a far
larger number of people than the total of your family and circle of
friends and co-workers, even though we often don't know more about them
than their name and the aircraft they fly. If we had that same kind of
link/connection to everyone and way to remember them that we do to other
pilots, I'm sure the number of car crash fatality victims we know or
know-of would be *at least* as great or greater.

IMO, that Richard Collins comment is simply NOT an indication of
anything other than what we've already established ... we know or
know-of many other pilots and airplanes in a more personal, identifiable
way than we can possibly know or know-of all other random cars and
drivers.

And again, bottom line, what difference does it make which mode of
transportation statistics say is more or less safe?...I don't think most
people look at the stats every morning as a way to gauge whether or not
to fly that day.