Are private planes less safe than commercial planes?
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Anonymous
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Hoping DCUM can help a family disagreement between my sister and my father. My sister wants to go with her bf's family from atl to key west on his family's small plane Of which they own a timeshare. My father is fearful of small planes (imo because of the Kennedy story) and is insisting she fly commercial. Are his fears valid? Is a small plane less safe? I know nothing about the plane except it holds a maximum of 4 people and minimal luggge as weight is a concern.
How much of this depends on the pilot? her bf's father would be piloting the plane. We know nothing of his qualifications except he is licensed to fly this plane (but is not a career pilot, no Air Force etc, this is a hobby of sorts). Would a commercial pilot be safer in this case? Thanks all, |
Anonymous
| Yes, this is a well-established fact. Doesn't mean that the risk of flying private is high, but it's higher than commercial. |
Anonymous
| yes... particularly single engine planes. i'd never fly those. |
Anonymous
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Of course, commercial planes are much safer than private planes. My husband is a private pilot. It doesn't take THAT much training to get a private pilot's license. Maybe 50-70 hours? Just for comparison, Captain Sullenberger, the pilot who landed in the Hudson, had around 20,000 hours of flight experience. Commercial pilots, in general, just have so much more experience and crashes, more often than not, are due to pilot error.
Private planes also often don't have extra safety features in place such as extra engines, co-pilots or back-up systems for navigation. |
Anonymous
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If it is a time shared/fractional ownership program it is probably in a managed program that has equipment management,, maintenance and safety inspection components.
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Anonymous
| Is this question for real? Not a week goes by that we don't see a fatal private plane crash in the news. When was the last commercial airline crash in the US? Think about it. |
Anonymous
| We had two family friends who crashed their small planes during my childhood. Both were fine, but my mom was freaked out enough that I was never allowed to fly with my uncle in his plane. This sucked because he flew to the beach house, and I had to drive 13 hours with my parents, who felt that long childhood car trips were a bonding experience. |
Anonymous
| You will never catch me on a private plane. Those things barely stay in the air, it seems. Your dad has many more reasons than JFKJr, OP. |
Anonymous
| my husband flies non-stop on his Gulfstream for business and we fly on it as a family fairly often for vacations etc. never have I felt unsafe or worried I wasn't going to make it to point b, anywhere that might be. |
Anonymous
Gulf Stream is radically different than a single engine plane!!! |
Anonymous
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It does depend on the pilot, my dad is a private pilot, and has an impeccable safety record - including not listening to a mechanic who told him it was fine to fly leaking oil (my dad was right - plane was grounded for months for repair).
Questions to ask include - what is the pilot rated? (VFR or IFR, VFR means they aren't rated for instrument flying conditions), how long have they been flying, what weather conditions will they fly/not fly in, what is the backup plan if they can't fly, is the runway controlled or uncontrolled, and if uncontrolled how often does he fly in there? I fly with my dad often, and have since I was a child. He's an engineer and designs airplanes for a major company, so he understands airplanes inside and out along with the physics of flying. I have landed a plane once, and am fairly confident I could put us down in an emergency with instructions from a tower. |
Anonymous
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18:17 back again. With the plane being that small, the pilot should ask how much she weighs. If he doesn't, she should ask about the weight balancing in the plane.
Kennedy flew into the water flying at night, it was most likely pilot error. Aaliyah, if you remember her, died in a small plane that was overweight. |
Anonymous
| Immediate PP has good questions to ask; another to add is how many hours the pilot has, both total hours and in this make and model. My DH has been a pilot (of all types) for years and the bottom line is that your dad is right: the type of flying you describe is much more dangerous than commercial aviation. If you want statistics, the term to Google is "general aviation." |
Anonymous
i think they all say that until the first accident |
Anonymous
This has to be a joke? gulfstreams are not even in the same realm as a single engine, 4-seater plane. |