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How safe is it to be your own pilot? (self.aviation)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by Pat12 to c/[email protected]

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I have a few friends who have their own pilots license (private pilot i assume). How safe is it to fly your own plane?

I have acrophobia so learning how to fly is not high on my list but would like to know about how safe it is to assuage some fears. To be it seems scary because if something goes wrong, you wouldn't be the only person getting hurt (as would be the case for scuba diving or skiing) but you might also risk hurtings others like your plane crashing out of control.

edit: i'm asking on the off chance i feel like one day getting a private pilots license like my friends. i'm not planning on flying with the friends anytime soon; they live on the other side of the world.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Safer than a motorcycle, barely.

People will say aviation is super safe. They should be saying commercial aviation is super safe.

Most accidents are pilot error, and pilots with a personal license do not typically have nearly as much training as a commercial pilot.

With a good instructor it's a lot of fun though and I highly recommend.

[–] Pat12 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Most accidents are pilot error, and pilots with a personal license do not typically have nearly as much training as a commercial pilot.

how much difference is it? It does seem like there are more accidents with personal flights than commercial flights

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Check out https://pilotinstitute.com/aviation-accident-causes/ for some data. It's significant.

Flying commercial is the safest way to travel, period. Flying GA is far from it.

AOPA also has a ton of data: https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/air-safety-institute/accident-analysis/richard-g-mcspadden-report/mcspadden%20report%20figure%20view?category=all&year=2021&condition=all&report=true

[–] Pat12 1 points 9 months ago

Thank you!