Recently, Jay Honeck posted:

While discussing flight safety in a different thread, the idea popped
into my head that rental planes are probably more dangerous to fly
than owner-flown aircraft. In my case, some of the rental birds I
used to fly were down-right scary, and I know that they were often
abused and ignored.

This as opposed to my own aircraft, which have been meticulously
maintained and pampered. (And, other than the hangar queens that are
owned by "pilots" that never fly, every active pilot owner I know
treats their plane in much the same way.)

Strangely, I can't seem to find any statistics on this seemingly
obvious (and easy-to-compile) issue. Does anyone know if any studies
have been done in this regard?

I don't know the answer to your question, however, the FARs for rentals
are more stringent than for privately owned & operated aircraft, so I'd
suspect that while many rentals may not be as pretty as privately-owned,
they are likely to be in better structural & mechanical condition.

The club that I belong to has around 15 planes, few of which would pass a
beauty contest. However, we also have 2 full-time mechanics, so squawks
are handled promptly and the regs are strictly adhered to. I feel quite
safe in these planes.

Neil


Neil