Andrew Sarangan wrote
If you have better data to the contrary please let us know. Gene Whitt is a
long time contributor to this group and an experienced CFI. I consider him
a dependable source of information, just as much as AOPA.

The point is not that the information is undependable - the point is
that it is useless. Total number of accidents tells us nothing unless
we also know ALL of:

Hours flown
Experience level of the pilots
Types of missions flown

We have no real data on the last two, and only rough estimates on the
first. Anecdotally, I've noticed that as time goes on, the mission
profile tends to change.

A good friend of mine learned to fly in the early 1960's. He soloed
at 15. No, it wsn't legal. He was taught by a cropduster in a Champ.
He soloed in 4 hours. He then flew over, picked up a friend, and
they headed up to Wisconsin - from Texas. They flew at night with no
night training - and no lights. And none of this was particularly
unusual then, but it would never happen now.

The mission profile was a lot different then, so comparing accident
totals (or even accident rates) is not meaningful. It's hard to get
hurt if you never do anything.

Michael