http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/198/how-dangerou...
That may sound like flying is considerably more dangerous than driving, but this is an overall statistic. Most GA accidents happen because the pilot did something stupid like taking off without enough fuel, or flying into weather they weren't equipped to handle. So if you avoid doing stupid things, you can stack the odds considerably in your favor. The risk of flying can be comparable to the risk of driving.
I'm actively working toward my PPL now but let's not pretend it's a safe venture by any means. You're strapping yourself onto a single lawn-mower engine that was build in the 60's that someone bought for $20,000 five years ago.
And, on the flip side, it's unlikely that another plane is going to run into you but you're probably a lot more exposed to events out of your control such as unexpected weather (e.g. crosswinds) and mechanical failures with serious consequences in a plane than in a car.
What's more unpredictable: stupid human drivers, stupid robot drivers, complex mechanical machines, or weather? Who is John Galt?
I guess in both cases, we believe we have improved the odds, but also in both, we don't know how much.
There is the additional problem that our efforts to improve our own safety may be less airtight than we imagine.
There are long established ways to reduce the incidence of stupidity. Always using checklists, always getting a weather brief, establishing personal minimums, etc. Of course, all of this will be covered as a standard part of any flying safety course.
IMO just saying "avoid doing stupid things" is dangerous. It's too easy to take that advice and say, well, I'm obviously not stupid, so I'm safe. And then you fly into a thunderstorm or stall while turning final or forget to connect a control surface, because avoiding stupidity has little if anything to do with being smart.
You can definitely stack the odds heavily in your favor, but it takes a lot of effort.
I would consider this "second derivative caution". It got cemented into me when I was taking hang gliding lessons and saw one of the most stone cold cautious members of my class become exuberant and act rashly on a landing, and break his arm quite badly.
If you draw the line that it's the pilot's responsibility to ensure that the aircraft is airworthy then I guess you can place the proximate blame of that on the pilot, too. By that rationale, however, all car accidents are also your fault, because of the catch-all rule that says you may not drive so fast so as to put "persons or property at risk" or however it's phrased.
Before you ever takeoff, you must check for these things.
> maintenance:
do a full walk-around of the aircraft, checking for any damage. You can't catch everything, but you should be thorough enough so that if anything sudden did happen, ie: your airplane got clipped by the fuel truck, that you would catch it.
> contaminated fuel
Aviation fuel is dyed blue. Before every flight we take a small sample of fuel from the bottom of each tank to ensure water hasn't contaminated our fuel. On highwing aircraft we also draw fuel from the fuel lines leading down into the engine. This is sufficient to almost completely rule out fuel contamination.
I'm not saying that sudden accidents don't occur, merely that they are extremely remote. Even then, it is the responsibility of the pilot to plan accordingly and to further mitigate the consequences of mechanical breakdowns.