The good news is the number of accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities has dropped steadily over time, as have the accident and fatal accident rates. Since 1973, the rate of fatal accidents for every 100,000 hours of flying has been cut in half, from around 2.4 per 100,000 hours to about 1.2 per 100,000 hours. Since 1946, one of the deadliest years in U.S. aviation history, the fatal accident rate has been cut by 83 percent. These are great gains. Still, the accident rate is unaccept-ably high. Compared with automobiles, GA airplanes are much riskier, though how much so depends on how you compare aviation apples to roadway oranges: per mile, per vehicle or per hour occupied. Motorcycles are, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 35 times more deadly than cars. Even so, motorcycles are still safer than airplanes.
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