So, first I hope this question fits this sub. I’ve often heard that sentance. But how has it been determined?
Like, is it just about the raw number of deaths? In which case, the argument doesn’t exactly land well since we’re in planes a very small part of our lives.
Or has it been calculated that on average, a second spent on a plane is safer than a second spent in a car? In which case it would truly be safer.
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It’s often projected to the number of trips. Like, each time you get in a car/plane you roll a wheel of fortune to decide if you get out of it alive. The other popular metric is incidents per distance traveled, which is similar to your time based idea but compensates better to the giant speed difference between the two vehicles.
Note: these apply to commercial pilots. Getting into Bob’s Cessna for a short hop to your favorite fishing hole is a lot riskier, IIRC it is a lot closer to road accident rate.
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