Safety of GA flying

If you want to see facts, go to the sources, NTSB, FAA,
AOPA-ASF, NASA and study the accident reports and safety
reviews.

Airlines are the safest mode of mass transport, but
corporate flying is even safer [last time I checked]. There
are strict rules for both FAR 121 [airlines] and FAR 91
corporations have even stricter in house rules. The
equipment used by corporations is equal to the airlines,
sometimes superior. The pilots know the boss is in the back
and they also have a operations that manual that can be
summed up as "Don't kill the boss."

General aviation includes every airplane that isn't an
airliner or military. Military is dangerous, not just
because they shoot at you, but the places they go and the
conditions they fly and train in are dangerous. General
aviation instructing and supervised students are very safe.
Patrol, agriculture, fire-fighting, these are inherently
dangerous yet have pretty good safety records. But just
like your car, some pilots will fly drunk, tired, stupid,
distracted and without planning. Not all have an accident
every time.

Bottom line, flying is as safe as you want it to be.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
ups.com...
| Many times I am reading a magazine related to flying and
some aviation
| related newsgroups and there are a fairly large number of
people that
| are dying, crashing, etc.
| Even the post a bit below about OSH show, etc.
|
| Since I would like to learn to fly I have one question:
|
| Airplane is considered to be the most safe mode of
transportation.
| Looking at the airliners and their operation where they
fly 24/7 all
| over the world, seldom some crash happens. What is the
root cause and
| problem in general aviation regarding safety, crashing,
etc? Shouldn't
| the standards be the same and are they the same in terms
of flying,
| rules and equipment. Basically, I wonder, what is going on
and most
| importantly what to do to correct it? And why it hasn't
been done yet?
|
| Thanks
|