Why are so many people afraid to fly in small airplanes?

It is interesting to me why people are so afraid of one thing, and could care less about another. Flying is dangerous because of all of the accidents reported on the news. Car crashes kill way more people each year yet no one thinks twice about texting and driving. :dunno:

Aspirin poisoning kills more people than small planes. It's all a matter of perception. :yes:

We are all gonna die sometime, why worry about it? :dunno:
 
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Piloto said:
Is all about size. The perception is the bigger the safer/better. Not only on planes but on boats, houses, hospitals, stores, body guards you name it. It is in the human nature.

José
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My girlfriend feels the larger the plane, the safer it is regardless of pilot skill. :dunno:
 
It is the fear of the unknown. I, personally, would not deep fry my Thanksgiving turkey or pressure cook anything due to all the negative things I've heard. Then again, boiling water for spagetti worries me because I don't do all that much cooking.
I have been flying small planes for 22 years (as of Friday 12/7) and helicopters for 18 months. Doesn't worry me a bit.
 
Most people know absolutely nothing about small airplanes. The only thing they ever hear about small airplanes is crashes. Add to that the fact that small airplanes are somewhat impractical and breathtakingly expensive, and all anyone is ever likely to hear about is crashes.
 
steingar said:
Most people know absolutely nothing about small airplanes. The only thing they ever hear about small airplanes is crashes. Add to that the fact that small airplanes are somewhat impractical and breathtakingly expensive, and all anyone is ever likely to hear about is crashes.
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I agree, lack of familiarity I would say is the biggest detractor. Airline travel has been coined as "the safest way to travel" so a lot of people are scared of anything smaller, maybe a subliminal message or something. My ex-wife cannot stand the thought of me taking up our son on flights. She never flew with me without another pilot onboard and even then was uncomfortable with me at the controls. I figured she might get more comfortable with small aircraft as I went through my PPL, but that didn't help at all.

On the converse, I'm more uncomfortable in an airliner than a small plane mostly because I rarely had the need to go in one until I was of the age of business travel. My entire family is comprised of private pilots, we flew everywhere for vacations, sport, etc. so a small airplane is like another car to me.

Curious, do people feel the same way about boats? I know a lot of people that won't step foot on anything smaller than a cruise ship and I'll skip my 30' over to the Bahamas at any chance I get :).
 
Because we live in an amazingly pampered society where most people have never faced any sort of danger in their entire lives. Few, if any, have ever faced down any sort of fear.

They were raised in a helicopter society with either their parents or the state hovering over them to protect them from even the slightest danger. Even walking into a room that might have unleaded paint in it has been removed as a threat.

Then there is the older folks, the people who jumped off bridges because their friends did it when they were kids. They even walked to school all by themselves, if you can imagine that.

The heyday of GA involved a generation of people who had learned early on to face down their fears. They fought in horrific wars in order that their children could live in such a nice safe society as ours is now.

Fear of doing anything dangerous or different is rampant throughout our society.

They say only about one percent of us are pilots, my hunch is that most all dangerous pastimes are carried out by a similar percentage of our overall population.

To sum it up, most all Americans appear to be cowards, but I doubt if that is really the case. It is more about a population who refuse to face their own fears, and then conquer them, simply because they had never been given the opportunity as children.

John Wayne said it best; "Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway."

We don't do such things anymore.

-John
 
Take that a step further, John.

The only thing they've been trained to be scared of, is their captors... Ahem, I mean, protectors.

"Zero tolerance" rules, being one good example.

If you're scared of carrying a pocket knife, you're not going to even think about jumping off the bridge.

You've been carefully taught to obey.
 
John Baker said:
Fear of doing anything dangerous or different is rampant throughout our society.
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And those same individuals have absolutely no problem whatsoever about getting in a car, yakking on a cellphone, texting, running lights and stop signs and going head to head with 80mph closure rates 3 feet apart on frictionless ice at 40mph or in low visibility with 150+mph closure rates. That has to be the most dangerous thing anyone can encounter in civilization short of deliberately ramming a bridge piling at 100mph.

People have been so far removed from reality that fear is selective, not real.


My girlfriend feels the larger the plane, the safer it is
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Ask her if she would rather hit a bridge piling at 25mph or 150mph in her car. (GA vs airliner) The harder you hit, the worse it's going to be...then you get to add in several tons of burning fuel... But that's all ok and safe and all is good in the world..right up to the moment things go bad wrong.
 
All of my passengers have felt more comfortable in my Apache than in a friend's turbine single. I tell them that a twin can actually be much more dangerous on take-off than a single-engine plane, but that doesn't sway them. =) The fact that there's two, and losing one means there's one instead of zero seems to make them feel better even if the person controlling the thing states the contrary. XD
 
denverpilot said:
Take that a step further, John.

The only thing they've been trained to be scared of, is their captors... Ahem, I mean, protectors.

"Zero tolerance" rules, being one good example.

If you're scared of carrying a pocket knife, you're not going to even think about jumping off the bridge.

You've been carefully taught to obey.
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Personally, I have a genuine hatred of "Zero tolerance". The SOB who dreamed that one up should be tared and feathered and run out of town on a rail. It is nothing more than an official admission by our government that it's own employees are incapable of using sound judgment or that they possess any sort of rational decision making ability.

Then to add insult to injury, we are expected to pay them their above average salaries and over the top benefits. It's like finding the village idiot, then making him our president.......Have we done that? We have, haven't we.

-John
 
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I have a friend who is afraid to fly on an airliner because he won't be able to see what's going on or have any control over it. But he was interested in taking a ride with me once I get my PPL. Statistics don't enter into people's fear response very well.

Some people feel safety in groups with big institutions and certified experts watching over them. Others see those same big system as a machine that would grind them up and are uncomfortable when they don't feel in control.

I don't think this anything new, it's just people and different personality types.
 
John Baker said:
Fear of doing anything dangerous or different is rampant throughout our society.
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Could be but I doubt it is different now than in the past. Not everybody wants to prove their "bravery" and if someone declines my offer to fly in a small airplane I don't interpret it that they did not pass the "courage test". I want to fly with people for whom it is fun and not to give them chance to conquer their internal fears.
 
So the people are mushy, nanny fed chickens now, huh? I don't think so. I just think they are better educated. Consider this-

Most people today have spent their whole lives traveling on airplanes. Airliners, looking out the window. So when you say, "Hey, wanna go up and see the town from above?" it doesn't carry a lot of weight. They've already seen it.

Second, people here seem to believe that America's freeways are more terrifying. What, with people texting, putting on make up, drunk off their asses, etc, who would want to go out there? Now the numbers tell us that flying piston GA is about on par with riding a motorcycle.

So if a stranger, or even a friend says to you, "Wanna go for a ride on the back of my bike on the downtown freeway?" would you go for it?

Some may, but most will decline. They've seen the freeway already, so why take the risk?
 
Dav8or said:
So the people are mushy, nanny fed chickens now, huh? I don't think so. I just think they are better educated. Consider this-

Most people today have spent their whole lives traveling on airplanes. Airliners, looking out the window. So when you say, "Hey, wanna go up and see the town from above?" it doesn't carry a lot of weight. They've already seen it.

Second, people here seem to believe that America's freeways are more terrifying. What, with people texting, putting on make up, drunk off their asses, etc, who would want to go out there? Now the numbers tell us that flying piston GA is about on par with riding a motorcycle.

So if a stranger, or even a friend says to you, "Wanna go for a ride on the back of my bike on the downtown freeway?" would you go for it?

Some may, but most will decline. They've seen the freeway already, so why take the risk?
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Your post got me thinking- thanks for that. I've had some people tell me that they are afraid of what happens when the engine dies on a single engine plane. It's a legitimate question and I always answer that planes are designed to fly and we could glide and land practically anywhere in an open field, assuming of course such a field is near by. Sometimes that calms people down, but not always. Connecting this thought to your post, I don't think people worry about what will happen if the engine dies on the motorcycle they are travelling on- that event alone does not carry any risk while ridding a motorcycle or driving a car for that matter, but in a plane would be a much bigger deal. I'll throw out there then, that some people don't feel safe if they feel like a minor failure of a mechanical part can cause a major problem. I have to be honest, even as a pilot I think about this idea too, imagine all the parts that need to be working correctly for a plane to fly. However, I realize that, aside from catastrophic failure of multiple things, an airplane can still fly. For some, that thought does not provide them enough assurance they need to take the risk. I get that but, in this part of my life, I'm still ok taking the chance.
 
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"I have to be honest, even as a pilot I think about this idea too, imagine all the parts that need to be working correctly for a plane to fly. However, I realize that, aside from catastrophic failure of multiple things, an airplane can still fly."

The PIC is the most important one! We need to practice to stay current and hopefully proficient for our passengers and ourselves.
 
Not a lot of new ground but,

Size: Most people equate size with level of safety.

It's different than an airliner: The physical sensations are far different in a C-172 than a 737. The sights and sounds are different.

Acceptance of risk: As GA pilots, we accept the increased risks. We don't give folks much credit, but they do realize these increased risks and may not be comfortable taking them.

Lack of control: My wife is very uncomfortable with the idea that she lacks control. Anyone can drive a car. Not everyone can pilot a plane, nor wants to learn.

Lack of understanding: The general public has no idea about flying, other than the airlines and what the news media tells them. How many positive GA stories do you see in the media or on film or TV. It's the funny skit with the pilot passing out and the passenger trying to land or the "red asphalt" photos of a crash scene.
 
John Baker said:
Because we live in an amazingly pampered society where most people have never faced any sort of danger in their entire lives. Few, if any, have ever faced down any sort of fear.

They were raised in a helicopter society with either their parents or the state hovering over them to protect them from even the slightest danger. Even walking into a room that might have unleaded paint in it has been removed as a threat.

Then there is the older folks, the people who jumped off bridges because their friends did it when they were kids. They even walked to school all by themselves, if you can imagine that.

The heyday of GA involved a generation of people who had learned early on to face down their fears. They fought in horrific wars in order that their children could live in such a nice safe society as ours is now.

Fear of doing anything dangerous or different is rampant throughout our society.

They say only about one percent of us are pilots, my hunch is that most all dangerous pastimes are carried out by a similar percentage of our overall population.

To sum it up, most all Americans appear to be cowards, but I doubt if that is really the case. It is more about a population who refuse to face their own fears, and then conquer them, simply because they had never been given the opportunity as children.

John Wayne said it best; "Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway."

We don't do such things anymore.

-John
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:yeahthat:
 
Apache123 said:
All of my passengers have felt more comfortable in my Apache than in a friend's turbine single. I tell them that a twin can actually be much more dangerous on take-off than a single-engine plane, but that doesn't sway them. =) The fact that there's two, and losing one means there's one instead of zero seems to make them feel better even if the person controlling the thing states the contrary. XD
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They tell the opposite thing to your turbine friend.:yes:

José
 
When I told a co-worker that when the engine quits, the plane glides, she said "No they don't, they just go straight down!" Fortunately, a friend of hers who used to be married to a pilot was with us and backed me up. In retrospect, I wish I had said "That can happen, but only when the pilot panics and mishandles the controls."
 
Piloto said:
Try crossing the Mona Channel with 20' waves on that 13' dinghy vs the Allure of the Seas and you tell me which one would your wife would feel safer.:rolleyes:

José
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I did some work on Jester, I'd feel perfectly safe off Cape Horn in a winter storm, Allure of the Sea would take a lot of damage. Never confuse comfort for safety.
 
fgcason said:
Maybe if the news went on a 3 hour rampage about the dangerous deadly cars every time there was a very minor fender bender and do it on absolutely every single minor car problem, people would have the same mindset about cars. (OMFG, a car had a flat tire, everyone is going to die die die maim, everyone is dead, ban the death traps, eeek, ban them before someone else dies - like they do aviation)

:thumbsup::rockon::cheers:
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I too give the pedestrians credit. I do think it comes down to personal motivations and not just objective risk comparisons. For instance, I'm unwilling to operate or ride in motorcycles, or a skateboard or rollerskates, for the idea of sustaining work-terminating or even lethal injury while pursuing those activities is not worth the risk, to ME. Yet, I'm perfectly willing to operate a single engine aircraft at night or over unforgiving terrain, fully recognizing an engine failure could jack me up on touchdown over trees or rough terrain.

It's not that one is inherently safer than the other, it's a matter of motivations. Most people are simply not motivated by the thought of getting in a hot, tight, windowed jaw-jarring closet with a deafening and vibrating industrial fan for 2 hours and hurl through the skies to get a view, and risk eating a tree, not to mention not having the motor skills to attempt to change their outcome. It's all about motivations.
 
flightmedic said:
We had a female firefighter that refused to get in the helicopter during training evolutions. Not because she was afraid it would crash, she was afraid the pilots were going to fly crazy to scare her. No amount of reassurance would convince her.
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If she is hot, she was probably right.:lol:
 
skidoo said:
Perhaps it is not the perception of GA at all, but rather the perception of the PIC. Most people I know have no problem with GA.
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Likewise. When people find out I'm a pilot, I probably get at least 10, maybe 20, "wow, that's really cool"s for each "isn't that dangerous?"

Also, I've only had one person who I made the offer to refuse to fly with me. It was because his brother had taken him for a ride on a 310 and kept saying "Gee, I hope the wings don't fall off" and such, so he was terrified.

We are our own worst enemy. DO NOT EVER SCARE YOUR PASSENGERS. :nono:
 
Henning said:
I did some work on Jester, I'd feel perfectly safe off Cape Horn in a winter storm, Allure of the Sea would take a lot of damage. Never confuse comfort for safety.
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It gets pretty cold by Cape Horn. I don't think your 13' dingy have any heat or range to make it out of the Horn. You will freeze and starve to death. I will watch you from the comforts of the cruise ship just in case.:rolleyes:

José
 
ClimbnSink said:
If she is hot, she was probably right.:lol:
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She is hot but our pilots are very professional and would never scare someone that they know is already afraid. Anyone that willingly gets in the helicopter, well, then all bets are off.
 
Piloto said:
It gets pretty cold by Cape Horn. I don't think your 13' dingy have any heat or range to make it out of the Horn. You will freeze and starve to death. I will watch you from the comforts of the cruise ship just in case.:rolleyes:

José
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It's not mine, and it has heat, a galley everything you need, that 13' boat has a heck of a lot of miles on it and has already outlived quite a few cruise ships.

Size and safety are tentatively connected by a very flexible link that can go either way, it's all in the engineering. I'll tell you what though, if I'm gonna crash, I'd much rather be in a 152 than a 747 or A380. Way less kinetic energy and a well engineered structure leaves me a much better chance of survival.
 
Big Mustache said:
It always amazes me that so many people will not fly in a GA aircraft. Is this because of the media? Flying is supposed to be safer than driving or riding in a car right? Or is it flying commercial is safer than riding or driving a car?
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I'm afraid of flying GA and commercial aircraft. Unless I'm in the front seat, I'm pretty nervous. So I avoid backseat GA flying at all costs. Commercial flying isn't quite as easy to avoid for me, but the sheet amount I do numbs me to some extent.

I personally know too many extreme risk taking GA pilots to be comfortable if I'm not flying.
 
John Baker said:
Then there is the older folks, the people who jumped off bridges because their friends did it when they were kids. They even walked to school all by themselves, if you can imagine that.
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Who are you calling "old"? :D
 
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