Anonymous
Privately owned light planes are really NOT particularly safe. Whatever aircraft a person owns, he usually can't afford to operate. People tend to buy about one "grade" above what they can afford. Most light plane owners try to get by as cheap as possible. They find shady A&Ps that will "pencil" inspections or ignore problems. They try to DIY tasks that are beyond their skill level. Most of them don't fly enough to stay really current and capable. Next, egos and braggadocio takes over, with often fatal results. The unfortunate result is a safety level about the same as motorcycles. And every day, we see those guys splattered all over the front of cars that "didn't see them".
F
Hot air balloons the safest? Only 16 people died in ten years, may be low in absolute numbers but I’m sure it’s huge in passenger miles travelled. ( very few people fly in balloons and fly very short distances).
No small aircraft are bit very safe, it’s not much more difficult to get a licence than for a car. Commercial air lines and trains are the safest transport.
Hot air balloon deaths
2013 19 people in one accident
2016 16 people in one accident.
FanMan
Large aircraft are the safest form of travel ever invented. Small aircraft are slightly less safe than automobiles, about the same as motorcycles.
Zack
"Still"?
They never were. Airliners have always been the safest form of air travel, and the safest form of ANY travel.
USAFisnumber1
No. In fact small aircraft are the most dangerous form of air travel. Look at Steve Fossett, a very experienced pilot yet he died in a small plane when he got caught in a down draft his plane could not handle. Most small plane pilots do not have a quarter of his experience.