Safe areas of general aviation

[Rxflyer]

I think it's reasonable to say that anything fun entails risk. All you can do is train properly and approach every flight you take professionally. If the fear of something "bad" happening outweighs the enjoyment that flying brings you, then you will never be able to truly appreciate the freedom of flight. Airlines achieve their great safety numbers through rigid, standardized training and procedures. They don't get to stop by many pancake breakfast fly-ins, though.

There was a Neil Young song that included the lyric, "it's better to burn out, than it is to rust..". I think about that sometimes, when people ask me the question about flying being dangerous. Appreciate being able to fly ! It's supposed to be a gift, not a burden.

 

[LJDRVR]

"One of the major causes of GA accidents is running out of gas."

Really? Now where did you hear that? I thought running out of gas was a pretty rare(but inexcusable) reason for GA crashes.

No offense, but you thought wrong.

Go to NTSB.GOV and set up a search for accidents involving fuel exaustion. From 7-9-07 to 7-12-05, you'll find 74 accidents where fuel exaustion was the the probable cause. That works out to a little over three a month. Historically, this is low.

Spend a little time looking around the NTSB site at accdents in general. Although most people consider themselves talented pilots, youll be amazed at how many stupid and inventive ways we find to bend metal.

You're not one of those folks that tells his students that flying is safer than driving are you?