Just curious, by why is this? Gut feeling? We know the statistics are stacked against us. Flying is simply risky. If you're 6 times or so safer than the average pilot, you might be approaching the safety level of driving. But in that case you're probably a safer driver too.
I've asked myself the same thing.. here are my reasons:
-basic reasons:
*according to
https://carsurance.net/blog/car-accident-statistics/ the greatest causes of car crashes are drunk driving, speed, distractions, and bad weather. Outside of weather these factors really don't play a part in aviation.. itemizing it:
--drunk driving: okay, I don't drink and fly (nor do I drink and drive).. however, if I'm driving home Friday night at 10 from a hot date (sober) there's a decent chance some idiot will be drunk leaving the bars in Pacific Beach, run a red, and T-Bone me. This simply will not happen flying.
--speed: outside of understanding your v speeds and all that jazz, AoA, etc., speeding is really not a dangerous thing in flying.. hitting a ramp at 65 mph vs 35 mph can send you into a ditch, and kill you. Shooting your coordinated turn at 160 knots base to final vs 120 knots won't kill you, but you'll likely have to go around since you've blown through final (most likely)
--distractions: outside of critical phases of flight aviation is much more forgiving for distractions. Sitting for 3 hrs on AP in cruise you are free to chat with your friend(s), take photos, look for a different XM station, grab an approach plate and review it, get lost in the AFD reading about the airport.. arguing with your friend which FBO to go to, etc. And in all this time you won't hit a pedestrian, tree, another car, etc. You can crank down a proper cheeseburge in the plane with both hands and it will have no effect on the safety of flight. Try that in a car!
--bad weather: this applies to us, but can be very easily mitigated by a *responsible* pilot checking their weather and knowing it is not beyond their (or their aircraft's) capabilities
Going deeper than that:
--everyone is going to think they're a "better than average" pilot. But out of 8/10 people I fly with I'm the more proficient pilot. I fly 120 hrs / yr and many of these flights are 300 nm legs or greater in various weather. There are 3 people I have flown with (out of probably 30) I consider my equivalent or superior pilots, two of them post here. I get good experience and take the time to stay current, preload frequencies, brief plates, geek out on the weather, pay attention to temp dew point spread, etc. Most people I fly with don't go into the OCD level of detail and analytics that I do when it comes to flying, I've even been (playfully) mocked for it
--I've been PPL since 17 (flying since 14) and driving since license at 16 (although my brother taught me how to drive stick on their Toyota Paseo when I was probably 12-14).. in that time, granted I've driven many more miles and hours, but I've been involved in one major accident.. 32 car pile up during a winter snow storm. There was literally nothing I could have done to avoid that crash other than take a different road or left at a different time. Had I been in a FIKI plane I could have avoided that accident altogether
Some other factors:
--the plane I fly has a parachute, FIKI, redundant electrical systems, redundant AHRS, turbo, O2. So long as I don't abuse these luxuries or get complacent (yes I switch the CDI to VOR and hand fly my approaches) these add a healthy safety margin for me that my car won't give me
**Yes, I 100% would rather fly to Mammoth from MYF than drive.. time and convenience aside I legitimately feel orders of magnitude safer at 16,000 feet in the safety of my solitude than cruising up Interstate 5 with a hundred distracted losers.
