Tragity

"Gary Drescher" wrote in
:

"ET" wrote in message
...
Jonathan Goodish wrote in
:
Knowing what I know as a certificated pilot, I would be very
reluctant to permit my child(ren) to fly with an unknown pilot.
However, I would much rather have my child(ren) in a single-engine
airplane with a competent pilot than in a car on the highway. There
is no doubt in my mind that there is much less risk in the former
than in the latter.
If the competence and proficiency of the pilot is not known, then
the
risk is considerably higher.

That just makes too much sense...

Only if you ignore all the actual data that's been discussed here.

In a car, you have at least as much
chance of dying as the result of someone ELSES stupidity as your own,
while in an aircraft the vast majority of possible fatal incidents
are under your direct control as the Pilot....

I can only think of a few instances where someone elses stupidity
comes into play... mid air (contributory), runway incursion,.... of
course a mechanic who screws something up that is not visible on
inspection......

The problem is that these "few instances" already add up to a higher
fatality rate *by themselves* than the *total* fatality rate for
driving. All the other, far more common ways to die in an
airplane--the pilot errors--are *in addition* to that already higher
rate.

--Gary



So, GA deaths due to mid-airs, runway incursions, and hidden A&P/AI
screw-ups add up to a higher fatality rate than driving???? HA! I just
don't see that....

I read the ntsb reports every month, and while I have done no math of
the causes, etc... I see very few mid-air fatalities, even fewer (if
any) runway incursion fatalities, and just a few hidden mechanic screw
up (although it is likely that more than a few of those "they just went
down & we don't know why" fatalites could be hidden mechanical).

I DO read alot about fuel exhastion, stalling on final, stalling on
takeoff, trying to take off with too much weight and/or at too high a
density alt... etc...

Quit frankly if the rate is as high as you say for the 3 above causes,
BRS should be selling a HELL of a lot more all-plane parachutes!

--
-- ET :-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams