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How safe is it to be your own pilot? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by Pat12@lemmy.world to c/aviation@lemmy.ml

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I have a few friends who have their own pilots license (private pilot i assume). How safe is it to fly your own plane?

I have acrophobia so learning how to fly is not high on my list but would like to know about how safe it is to assuage some fears. To be it seems scary because if something goes wrong, you wouldn't be the only person getting hurt (as would be the case for scuba diving or skiing) but you might also risk hurtings others like your plane crashing out of control.

edit: i'm asking on the off chance i feel like one day getting a private pilots license like my friends. i'm not planning on flying with the friends anytime soon; they live on the other side of the world.

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[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

It may sound counterintuitive but you might get comfort watching Air Disasters. You will see some of the mistakes that have been made in commercial aviation in the past and what has been done to correct it. Some of the mistakes are caused by the pilot but not all. Sometimes a malfunction occurs but the pilots don't react appropriately. There are several examples of incredible piloting that save lives as well so you can see what it means to properly handle a malfunction.

That said you can look up statistics of car crashes vs general aviation (fly yourself) crashes. I don't know but I suspect flying is safer. Commercial aviation is much, much safer.

If I ever tried to get a license I would always want to keep in mind how dangerous it could be and do everything possible in my control to be as safe and capable as possible.