planes vs cycles

Cub Driver wrote:

The usual method for comparing the safety of automobiles is *drivers*
killed per million miles driven.

Which may be one reason it took years for passenger airbags to become common.

Strikes me this would also be the only fair way to compare a
motorcycle and a lightplane.

I disagree. A fatal accident is a fatal accident, even if the fatality is a
passenger. Personally, I would be more interested in the number of fatal accidents
per 1,000 hours, or similar stats. The general public would probably be most
interested in the number of fatalities (both passenger and crew) per 1,000 hours, or
perhaps the number of trips per fatality.

George Patterson
None of us is as dumb as all of us.

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 09:21:17 -0700, Peter
wrote:

http://www.magma.ca/~ocbc/comparat.html

There sure must be a lot of sky-divers, to make "living" more
dangerous than say "snowmobiling."

I see that "passive living" is a whole lot safer, however--safer than
anything except a house fire.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! weblog www.vivabush.org

Cub Driver wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 09:21:17 -0700, Peter
wrote:


http://www.magma.ca/~ocbc/comparat.html


There sure must be a lot of sky-divers, to make "living" more
dangerous than say "snowmobiling."

No, since the small number of skydiving accidents have very little
effect on the overall life expectancy of the population.

'Living' having a higher fatality rate than snowmobiling just means that
you'd need to have a group of people snowmobile for a cumulative total
of more than the average life expectancy (about 74 years or 650000
hours) before one of them would be statistically likely to have a fatal
accident.

"Peter Duniho" writes:

I'll just add that it's important to keep in mind that it's very difficult
to make "apples to apples" comparisons. You need to decide whether you're
going to compare miles, time, or number of trips, and whether you're going
to do those comparisons using the vehicle count or the passenger count.

Hmmm...where do I find statistics for injuries while operating
motorcycles at 200MPH with five passengers...

--kyler

"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
Hmmm...where do I find statistics for injuries while operating
motorcycles at 200MPH with five passengers...

Um, I dunno...the SSTGP (Superbike Side-car/Trailer Grand Prix) web site?

Pete

Cycles make only short flights and the landings are usually quite nasty.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.


(PaulH) wrote in message om...
I've seen statements in various aviation chat rooms that the GA
accident rate is similar to that of motorcycles, but have never seen
the actual statistics. Is this GA overall? Accidents per hour or per
mile? Incidents or fatalities?