That's horrible. I really grieve for her other child. Tremendously sad.

To me, it's also a reminder that private flight is still quite dangerous. Airline flight is seven times safer than driving, but driving a car is seven times safer than general aviation. Lots of fun, no doubt, but make sure your will is in order.

Where'd you get those statistics? I was under the impression that the opposite was true (regarding general aviation).

A flight instructor once told me that flying single-engined piston planes was statistically about as dangerous as riding motorcycles, which I assume is more dangerous than driving cars.

Greenspun has some data: http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/safety

Watch out for airplane stats that count accidents/mile. Accidents/hour is a much more relevant measure.

Is it, though? But if I consider the safest way to get from A to B, miles seem more relevant?

To determine the safest way to go from A to B, you need to incorporate both distance and time accident rates, no?

I'm sure walking is actually a pretty unsafe method, when you consider distance.

I wonder how business jets and very light jets compare to big airliners of similar ranges.