Between Iraq and the Republican's surprise sweep in Tuesday's elections, the news has already moved on from the tragic death of Paul Wellstone and his entourage in a small plane crash. I was sitting around dwelling on how sad it is when it occurred to me that these damn small plane crashes happen with numbing frequency. Logically, it happens to those groups of people who fly small planes most frequently, including musicians and politicians, most recently Wellstone, Mel Carnahan, and poor young Aaliyah, who was just starting her life.…
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26 - Eric Olsen
John, You sound very sensible. Thanks you for your input. I only wish all pilots luck and safety. We are in agreement that the human factor is paramount. That really was my main point.
27 - Ed Martin
The actual way to determine the relative danger of two activities is to compare the fatalities per time unit while exposed to each activity. If you dig out the figures from the DOT and the airline industries and compare the deaths per hour of flying to driving, you'll never fly again. Thanks, Ed.
28 - WC
Fatalities per time unit exposed to an activity is only one way of evaluating the safety of an activity. Substituting automobile travel for a flight between points A & B may require many more time units, so the activity with fewer fatalities per time unit isn't necessarily the safest for the task.
Per time unit of the activity, bicycling is definitely safer than truck or car operation. I believe the statistics show that per mile of travel bicycling results in more fatalities than motoring in an armored shell. However, by giving up the car for a bicycle, a person will often be safer (not to mention healthier) because fewer miles are likely to be traveled and total time on the road may not increase enough to increase risk exposure.
Bill