It depends greatly on where you are. I LOVE airplanes and being in the air, and everything at all to do with aviation, so I once entertained the idea of getting a PPL. I called around to the various local airports and clubs to get an idea of what was involved. Although I could technically afford it, the price tag was eye-wateringly expensive for what would realistically amount to an expensive and non-trivially dangerous hobby for me. I expect those who are able to do it on the cheap already have a network in place in order to get steep discounts on their instructor's hours, or something to that effect.
* Also, I eventually decided that I don't have what it takes to be a competent pilot anyway. I'm sure I could handle rural VFR just fine but my brain is not good at holding and computing multiple values. Anything that requires me to juggle a dozen or more numbers in my brain in order to avoid dying is a no-go unfortunately.) I took up an interest in motorcycles instead.
Can you expand on this? I am a motorcyclist with an interest in flying and based on my idea of what flying involves (at least in not very busy areas) it seems a lot more chill and probably less dangerous than motorcycling. Multiple people try to kill me every day the mental load involved in managing all the hazards is quite high.
When riding, the only number you _really_ need to pay attention to constantly is your speed, and that's just to avoid getting pulled over. Everything else can be operated by feel, sound, and judgement. Energy management is easy: if you want to go fast, twist the throttle. If you need to slow down, apply the brakes. You also have to learn to ride defensively against other road users but that comes down to vigilance, general situational awareness, and experience. There's no numbers or math involved per se.
Flying VFR is probably similar in a lot of ways. You have lots of visual references to go by and with experience can tell if you're on the right heading, too high, too low, too fast, etc. This is why I haven't ruled out buying an ultralight some day when I'm retired.
But in lots of cases, and especially when flying IFR, you have to juggle a lot of things all at once just to keep from dying. A GA aircraft might have dozen gauges and those are only the most immediately important things to worry about. Altitude, heading, air speed, engine RPMs, hours of fuel, ATC frequencies, etc. Many flight parameters have a current value, but most also have safe minimum and safe maximum values which change dramatically depending on the phase of flight.
Lots of people have the ability to mentally manage all the parameters of the airplane itself and its position in the sky, and also be able to do it consistently and safely. But my brain just doesn't work like that. I have trouble holding one or two numbers in my head for more than a minute. It would be incredibly stressful if I had to hold dozens of them in my head at once and my LIFE depended on not forgetting or accidentally swapping them around. I know my limits and for better or worse, this is one of them.
It's more arbitrary data than riding, mostly while communicating with ATC. You have to remember various details spoken to you moments ago and process it all while managing the plane. It is obviously very doable, many do it.
It depends on where you ride but the mortality of private pilots is comparable to riding when messuring risk vs hours of exposure. I don't have time to fetch the data right now but I recall that from when I was looking into getting a bike.
The risks are very different, pilots die from lack of preparedness, riders are at the whim of traffic and their moment to moment risk taking behavior.
Once you get past your checkride there is virtually zero math involved in flying. I regularly fly in and around the SF Bay Area and I don’t do a single math problem when flying. I would not let that fear stop
You. Flying is too awesome.
* Also, I eventually decided that I don't have what it takes to be a competent pilot anyway. I'm sure I could handle rural VFR just fine but my brain is not good at holding and computing multiple values. Anything that requires me to juggle a dozen or more numbers in my brain in order to avoid dying is a no-go unfortunately.) I took up an interest in motorcycles instead.