Why is piloting a small plane so dangerous?

To share this with you it might make more sense if i told you that flying in a jet passenger plane is 6 times safer than driving in traffic with your car.

But, piloting a small plane (unless you are doing this every day to get enough experience) is 10 times more dangerous than riding a motorcycle. Why?

Because new pilots don't know enough. Then they have problems because they don't fly enough because it is too expensive.

So, being a "Weekend" pilot is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Why?

The biggest mistake I have noticed (I have soloed in a Cessna 152 by the way more than once) is that they fly alone and then they get the bright idea of flying with their family on board.

What happens then? They have overloaded the plane weight wise so when they take off they are thinking that the plane should handle like it does when they are alone in it. But it doesn't.

When a pilot makes this mistake what happens?

He kills himself and his whole family because often he has so overloaded the plane with his family and luggage that he has no idea how to take off properly with this much weight or land with this much weight.

If he makes it airborne then he has to watch for gusts of wind and to slow down so the extra weight doesn't accidentally rip the wings off while he is this overloaded. Then what happens when he goes to a higher altitude airport like Denver say from some place like Las Vegas or Los Angeles or San Diego?

That's right. He might crash because it's too much weight to land at a high altitude unless he is experienced making this kind of landing alone or with other people in the plane.

IN other words "IF you don't train for all the situations you are going to face with different weight loads in that specific plane you are going to be flying in it's just a "Death Trap" and that's all.

What I'm writing about here is especially critical in "High Wing Planes" because of the way they are constructed. though they are easier to fly than low wing planes they have certain weaknesses too.

Then if you are in a low wing plane the problem usually is you have to fly much faster and land much faster than in a high wing plane. Are you competent to do this in your chosen plane?

So, are you going to take your family in a rented plane you aren't familiar with traveling to a tourist destination at altitude?

If you are all balls and no brains you and your family are soon going to be dead. being methodical and thinking all this through before hand will keep you and your family alive for a long long time.

Just remember "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no OLD BOLD pilots left alive!"

Note: people we lost so far in small planes: my wife's stepbrother, his wife and their dog, my uncle, and a good friend's father.

They were all bold pilots. I don't think our stepbrother's wife was a pilot though.