Safety: Planes vs Bikes

"Bob Myers" wrote in message
...

"NrDg" wrote in message
m...
What I have heard and believe myself is that the risk of death is similar
for both activities on average. Hazards are different. Private pilots
tend to do themselve in with their own mistakes. Riders get got by others
a lot more.

I just got to jump in on this. I've been both ways - motorcycles and light
planes.

In flying, you can make a lot of small mistakes with pleanty of time to
correct them. If you are a careful pilot and do everything right, your
chances of dying at an advanced age in bed are very good. Chances of
mechanical failure are very rare today, and a midair is even more rare. The
careful pilot MIGHT be run down by a descending airliner.

On a motorcycle, you can do everything EXACTLY right, and still have a good
chance of disaster. Road conditions around a curve, driver pulling in front
of you, crowding you in passing. During the summer here in East Tennessee,
seldom a week goes by that there isn't a fatality reported in the paper.
Ever ride on a country road in the fall after leaves cover the road, and wet
with rain? These things are killing machines - talk to anyone in an
emergence room. But, hell yes they are fun.

I gave up the bikes volunterally. Old age took my plane away.

"birdog" wrote in message
.. .

"Bob Myers" wrote in message
...

"NrDg" wrote in message
m...
What I have heard and believe myself is that the risk of death is
similar for both activities on average. Hazards are different. Private
pilots tend to do themselve in with their own mistakes. Riders get got
by others a lot more.

I just got to jump in on this. I've been both ways - motorcycles and light
planes.

OK, but please watch the attributions - while you DID
include the original writer of the above, you also got my
name in there and someone might attribute the comments
to me. Fortunately, in this case, I happen to agree with
them.


In flying, you can make a lot of small mistakes with pleanty of time to
correct them.

Agreed, with some exceptions. Most of those would come
under the heading of Altitude Is Your Friend, but basically,
sure. On the other hand, little mistakes near the ground can
bite you really, really hard. Ask John Denver...


On a motorcycle, you can do everything EXACTLY right, and still have a
good chance of disaster. Road conditions around a curve, driver pulling in
front of you, crowding you in passing.

Yeah, but wasn't that the original point? That on a bike, there
are more things that are completely OUT of your hands.


During the summer here in East Tennessee, seldom a week goes by that there
isn't a fatality reported in the paper.

No doubt, but again that by itself doesn't say a lot unless we
know how many bikes are on the road vs. the number of
planes in the air, and how much time each spends there.

Ever ride on a country road in the fall after leaves cover the road, and
wet with rain? These things are killing machines - talk to anyone in an
emergence room. But, hell yes they are fun.

Riding on a country road in the fall with leaves and/or
water, though, is a choice; it IS within the rider's
control, and you can decide that you're just not up to
it. Or that you ARE, but that you have to modify your
behavior accordingly. Not really much different from each
pilot's "personal minimums" re the weather, etc..
Everyone, in ANY such activity, makes decisions all the time
which are based on the current conditions and how much
risk that individual deems "acceptable." Hopefully, in all
cases, the person making that decision would be fully
informed and at least reasonably objective about their own
skills and the capabilities of their machine. I also think that
in the case of motorcycling, there's a lot LESS of that latter
part than in flying. The bar is set a bit higher in terms of the
"price of admission" re demonstrated skill, judgement, and
knowledge, and as a result flying tends to have a LOT fewer
of the class we'd call "squids" in motorcycling.

Bob M.

"birdog" wrote in message
.. .
"NrDg" wrote in message
m...
What I have heard and believe myself is that the risk of death is
similar for both activities on average. Hazards are different. Private
pilots tend to do themselve in with their own mistakes. Riders get got
by others a lot more.

I just got to jump in on this. I've been both ways - motorcycles and light
planes.

In flying, you can make a lot of small mistakes with pleanty of time to
correct them. If you are a careful pilot and do everything right, your
chances of dying at an advanced age in bed are very good. Chances of
mechanical failure are very rare today, and a midair is even more rare.
The careful pilot MIGHT be run down by a descending airliner.

These are not the types of things that gets pilots. The major problems are
mental and likely involve weather in one way or the other. A strong desire
to get home when the weather is marginal. Flying too low under a cloud
layer - scudrunning - and hitting something poking up from the ground or the
ground itself. Loosing control by flying in the clouds without sufficient
instrument training. Flying in clouds in icing conditions. Getting caught in
a thunderstorm cell. Flying into an invisible rotor mountain flying. Taking
off too heavy for current temperature and wind and runway too short. Yah if
you only fly day VFR with no wind and clouds you are very safe. If you want
practical transportation you need to nip at the weather / ability boundary
and may risk getting in over your head if you evaluate the situation
incorrectly.

On a motorcycle, you can do everything EXACTLY right, and still have a
good chance of disaster. Road conditions around a curve, driver pulling in
front of you, crowding you in passing. During the summer here in East
Tennessee, seldom a week goes by that there isn't a fatality reported in
the paper. Ever ride on a country road in the fall after leaves cover the
road, and wet with rain? These things are killing machines - talk to
anyone in an emergence room. But, hell yes they are fun.

You can reduce your risk significanly in the face of perverse actions of
others but yah you are a lot more at risk from the actions of others when
riding. Pilots like to think they are safer than they really are on average.
The average overall risk for both activities is similar.

I gave up the bikes volunterally. Old age took my plane away.

I gave up planes because I needed the money for early retirement. I got into
bikes as a somewhat replacement for flying. If I won the lottery, the first
thing I'd do is buy a plane (and keep the bike).