> "Rockets, balloons, most military aircraft? Shove a ballistic parachute on it."
As far as I know, no rocket or military fighter jet has ever been certified to carry paying passengers for exactly this reason. We're talking about shuttling people around, not highly trained test pilots.
Balloons are actually far safer than fixed wing aircraft for other reasons. It would take a complete loss of the canopy for a balloon to fall out of the sky. When they run out of fuel, they just drift slowly to the ground.
Ballistic parachutes are a last resort option, and add a large amount of weight and complexity to the aircraft. Not to mention that they do not scale up to larger passenger aircraft. It's not even comparable to the safety afforded by a stable airframe.