General Aviation is dangerous. When I first started flying 25 years ago I hid my head in the sand believing that flying was just as safe as driving a car. After 3000 hours in the air I know it’s not. Any pilot who says so is delusional or uninformed.
Pilots must do everything in their power to fly safely. If they do that, then it’s as safe as driving, maybe even safer. The problem is, so many pilots do not do everything in their power to be safe. Those facts are plain as day.
Recreational pilots have the very worst safety record. Self-piloting business flying is much safer. Charter operations are safer yet (we have passed the “safer than driving” statistic here). Corporate flying is extremely safe. And (other than the recent Hudson River landing) commercial flight is the very safest means of transportation.
Of course commercial flying is safer. You have two professional pilots flying the same routes every week. The aircraft is generally far more capable than that flown by the general aviation pilot. About 90% of accidents are caused by pilot error. And bold amateurs tend to make a lot more errors than seasoned professionals.
So yes, general aviation is by far the riskiest travel in the air. I don’t know if it’s arrogance, poor training, poor ability, or just plain stupidity. Probably a little of each.
The comment about following instruments is probably related to flight in IMC “Instrument Meteorologic Conditions.” Pilots must pass a written test and a flight test to fly in IMC — it’s a big step up from flying in clear weather. While the FAA mandates fairly strict training and currency standards for pilots as well as specific aircraft capability, it’s not unusual for pilots to “cheat” on their qualifications (no one is really looking!) and fly in IMC when they shouldn’t. It’s dumb, it’s dangerous, it’s illegal — but people do it. Go figure. Probably at least one of the fatal Palomar accidents occurred with that scenario. (Don’t be so surprised — like you never heard of someone driving drunk without a license?)
I don’t want to knock flying — especially flying in Southern California. Southern California has some of the busiest airspace in the world. There’s a reason for that: it has wonderful weather, many great airports, and beautiful scenery. Sometimes it’s so perfect I think I’m having a Zen experience. You just gotta do it right.
