Private Pilot Flight Training and Instruction Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM The Risks of Flying Most flying decisions are easy if the decision is based upon safety. Being safe does not mean without risk. Engine operations are safe but some 8 percent of accidents are caused by engine mechanical failure. Flight training makes up 20% of total flight activity but only 12% of the accidents. Midairs make less than 1.2 percent of aircraft accidents. Alcohol and drugs barely appear. Takeoff and landings make 50%. Pilot error 65% base cause of accidents. Risk of drowning at home in your bathtub is five times greater than of dying in an aircraft accident. The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed over 500,000 in the U.S. and many millions more in the rest of the world. More people than have died in all the wars of the world. Those big jets are pretty safe! The brochure made a comparison that your odds of dying in a commercial airliner are about the same as being struck by a meteorite! Approximately 20 accidents per year occur because of deliberate flight in or near thunderstorms. Written by Gene Whitt Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM