Is It SAFER to FLY or DRIVE?
Dan and Christy sort through the data to determine if it is indeed safer to fly versus drive. To come to the correct conclusion, you must separate commercial airline travel from General Aviation. The data comes from the McSpadden Report and an article done by the Pilot Institute: https://pilotinstitute.com/is-flying-safer-than-driving/
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28 Comments
Flying has more inherent risks than driving. Cars don’t fall out of the air (unless you drive off a cliff). Plus, even in a 172 or a “Warrior”. You’re going much faster than a car driving down the highway. Even landing final approach speed is 70 mph (63 kts). I just finished my eFIRC and it placed a lot of emphasis on risk management. That, and staying proficient are the keys. Oh yeah, I won’t sign off a flight review if the pilot can’t meet the requirements in the ACS for the certificate they hold.
I feel it's comes down to training people get a cfi to get hours for commercial licenses, and they only care to get the hours.. I feel u should need a commercial license before u can be a cfi
I was a Data Analyst in Naval Aviation, my personal favorite…
“Figures don’t lie, But Liars figure”.
The flightradar 24 app reports many flights square 7700 per day. That seems very high. I think most land safely. Can you explain this
Really good podcast guys, very interesting. I always tell people that get on my plane that this is comparable to riding a motorcycle in terms of accident rate, so that they know the risk level compared to something they know better. Some people have the thought that a small GA airplane is as safe as an airliner with 2 trained pilots and extensive maintenance programs, which is not true of course. But I also tell them that accidents on a motorbike often happens from the outside (someone hitting them), but in GA, as was stated in this podcast, the accidents come from the pilot mainly. So the good news are that we can have some control over that. Flying often, improving our skils by training, reviewing our emergency procedures, knowing our POH by heart, etc.
I 100 percent agree on the topic of proficiency importance but does the data show a direct correlation to proficiency or are these assumptions?
👍✅👏👏👏
I hope my wife doesn’t see this video… let’s make flying GA safer, like the airlines.
5 mins in. Gotta say I’ve never heard or read anyone try to claim that GA is safer than driving lol. But will watch anyways to hear the discussion.
Curious why you need to wear headphones, when you’re sitting next to each other in the same room?
You forgot to break down the traffic accident rate to include new inexperienced drivers.
good discussion! I recently joined a flying club and they have a couple things/tools that align with what you guys are trying to say. First, they require checkouts every 6 months. Second, they have a “minimum flight time” where members need to fly I think 1 hour every 2 months. If they don’t, they get charged for the 1 hour anyways.
Excellent podcast Dan and Christy. I strongly feel that the rise in aviation social media content creators like yourself, continuously promoting safe practices and proficiency, has had a positive impact on lowering the GA accident rate. We as a community need to continue to promote this kind of content. Like I always say, keep up the excellent work. Safe skies my friends 🇺🇸🛩️
I read the comments. Now take it from another angle. As a trained accident investigator (bus), I would agree with Dan to take out the commercial, 91, and 120. Then on the ground side, take out the commercial side too. Greyhound, school bus, and charter & special service on the bus side, then the same for commercial trucking. Now what is left. GP general population. I would have to read the report before I reached a conclusion.
Do car drivers do pre trips? Do all drivers maintain their cars to an A, B, C standard? (A maintenance system used by fleets?) I will stand out on a limb and guess that most do not.
GA pilots might, professional drivers might. But Joe Sixpack? That is an unknown answer.
Being a “ground guy” as opposed to a GA guy, I would hope that we are safer but as in this case, “your mileage may vary”.
I will speak for myself. Maybe even challenge some GA pilots out there. I “owned” my chauffeurs license for 52 years, gave it up at age 70.
Beat my record of 11655 days worked with 0 accidents. I’m sure Brownie and others can beat me on miles, but I quit counting at 2 million, I believe I ended with about 3.1 after 31 years. One year in a bus at 102,000 miles? That is really seeing the USA!
Whether it’s GA or car driving, be safe out there, avoid the 3 D’s, check the weather, don’t be bullied by others, because it is YOUR license/certificate. Safety cannot be underestimated. Shortcuts are always testing the Swiss cheese. Edited to add 2 points. How many times do car drivers ever have to take a test to renew? Probably Slim to None, and Slim left town. On the GA side, planes are not much safer than they were 50 years ago. Maybe glass panels, but no airbags, and other built in safety features like ABS, and some pre-warn systems on 2020 or newer cars.
I think it is a toss up, and would say that it is probably equal, if the statistics were compared apples to apples. Is a school bus safer than an airline? Is an Amtrak safer than a Greyhound.
Training and safety is required for professionals. It is optional for the rest of society.
According too cessnas study back in the 90s wearing a crash helmet significantly reduces fatalitys and serious injurys by somewhere in the 70+% and i would imagine multi point harness help as well
I feel like GA should be compared with miles to cars not hours. But…🤷
To quote a sign on a wall of a Statistician I know, " If you torture the data long enough, it will confess " On your statement about getting apples to apples on the comparison, there are so many variables to consider. For instance, for a viable comparison to 121 vs GA opps, I would think the maintenance on the GA aircraft needs to be to 121 levels. The pilot needs to be as proficient as the 121 pilot. …..
Very few GA accidents involve more than 1 aircraft. Conversely, almost all auto accidents involve 2 or more vehicles.
Apples to apples would mean looking at only accidents in GA that involve 2 or more airplanes compared to 2 or more automobiles. Very few ‘texting’ pilots are going to fly into your Cessna unexpectedly.
38,824 automobile deaths in the US in 2020 vs 332 GA deaths. A lot more cars out there… but! That is what makes automotive travel less safe.
Very hard to make a real comparison in my opinion as the variables are many. However, just the lack of other distracted pilots running amuck makes GA travel safer.
The causes of traffic fatalities are; speeding, impaired driving, distracted driving, aggressive driving, drowsy driving and road conditions. If you don't ever drive under any of these conditions, maintain safe following distance and look both ways through intersections (including when you have a green light), your chances of being killed in a traffic are as close to zero as you can get without being zero. DG
As a pharmacist, I love statistics. People try to sell things with suspicious information. Most of the time, they are using out and out lies to make you think they should buy their products. Anyone in the business know better.
Good episode guys. It seems to me it's pointless to try to compare safety between cars and GA planes. There are just too many differences and variables. Truth is, aviation is risky. Humans weren't designed to travel through the skies or to withstand the effects of falling out of it. We have to minimize the risk through lots of training, lots of practice, and lots of attention to mechanical excellence. I believe too many pilots treat airplanes like cars – let 'em sit until you want to jump in and go. I heartily agree on the proficiency (practice) angle. I practice driving my car every day. I wish I was that practiced flying my plane.
I would like to recommend one more safety measure. VFR pilots, use VFR Flight Following at every opportunity. ATC is your safety net!
The relative safety factor between GA and driving a car is almost completely a function of the pilot/driver. A high skill proficiency level on either side will tip the scales. Let's be scale tippers.
My favorite statistics story is that during World War I British troops switch from leather helmets to metal ones. The number of head injuries increased remarkably. The reason for that, was that instead of dying, troops were surviving shots of the head because the helmet was absorbing most of the injury.
Good morning from Minnesota! Interesting episode
Sure , I can spend an extra 30k -50k a year training … can’t we all?
if we want to eliminate stall accidents ….. then only Cannard aircraft should be allowed to fly .
Both of these are just unrealistic.
I do appreciate your videos though … keep up the good work .
Scenario based training. Training and practicing loos of power in takeoff configuration, reduced power, inadvertent vmc. Not maneuvers. Practice the Scenarios which are proven killers. Kind of like the commercial carriers do.
Christy Schaffer?