COVINGTON, Ga. (AP) — Two people were killed when a single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff late Saturday from a small airport east of Atlanta, authorities said
Police said responding officers found the aircraft and the two victims in woods just north of the runway in Newton County, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east of downtown Atlanta.
The crash is being investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board
Not sure how anything you asked is relevant? At the end of the day, general aviation is not super safe to the standard that people expect from commercial / corporate flights.
https://pilotinstitute.com/is-flying-safer-than-driving/#personal-flights
Motorcycle:
Personal flights:
I’m really surprised at that.
Thinking about it though most bikers I know are young, have good reflexes and are mostly using a motorbike for commuting or travelling which is probably lower risk than the cliche teenage fool on a superbike my mind jumped to.
By contrast, the vast majority of light aircraft pilots I know are 60+, many 70+ with extensive health issues, heart problems and likely comparatively poor reflexes.
General aviation overall:
Totally. I have my student license and everyone at the field is much older than I am. There’s a reason that some plane models are called things like “doctor killers”.
Also there’s a lot of random pilots up in places like Alaska or crop dusting in middle America that just don’t give a fuck about anything. That tends to skew the stats a bit more I think.
You need a pilots license to fly an airplane at all. To fly in less than optimal conditions (ie fog) you need an IFR endorsement. You can get other endorsements like sea place, multi engine, high powered, etc.
To fly for payment at all you need a commercial pilots license. To fly a consumer airline, you need an ATP endorsement.
Depending on what type of license you have (private, commercial, ATP), you need pass a certain class of medical exam. Your license also dictates how often your medical needs to be renewed.
To achieve a PPL ( in the US) you need to pass a checkride and a written exam. You also need to pass a check ride for your instrument endorsement. I have no idea if you need to pass a written exam for a CPL, but you definitely need a check ride for that. And your ATP.
You also need to pass an annual mechanical inspection for your personal plane. For commercial it’s ever X hours ( I think it’s 1000?). No idea for ATP
Beyond that, you can lose the ability to fly your plane if the FAA or manufacturer identifies a defect in your plane and you have yet to get it fixed by the required procedure.
Did I mention it’s 40 hours flight hours minimum for a PPL and 1500 for ATP?
Oh and there are preflight checklists to verify that your plane is in working order BEFORE flight.
Thats all to say, flying is much much more stringent than riding a motorcycle.
Sure there’s a big difference between 40 and 1500 hours, but no matter how you slice it, there are greater pains to making sure flying is safer than driving