Comment on AP News: Hundreds of flying taxis to be made in Ohio, home of the Wright brothers and astronaut legends

• gregorum@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Flying is less dangerous per capita because fewer people fly than drive and are required to have more training to fly commercially. But the is t true for these sorts of craft, and small engine aircraft are far more dangerous with a far higher rate of crashes. So are helicopters. And increasing the number of those aircraft and flights would only raise those numbers further.

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  • FlowVoid@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Flying is safer, period.

    In the US, there are only about ten fatalities per year on commercial aircraft. You are more likely to die of a lightning strike.

    And if you only consider major airlines, in the last twenty years there have been only three passenger fatalities.

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    • gregorum@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Large commercial aircraft with 2 trained pilots, air traffic control, a full flight crew, autopilot, and millions of dollars of advanced avionics.

      These are not the same type of aircraft, nor are they the same caliber of pilots that will be flying them. And there won’t be air traffic control to back them up, either. You’re comparing apples to oranges.

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      • FlowVoid@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Major airlines have two pilots and expensive avionics. But “commercial aircraft” refers to all aircraft with paying passengers, including propeller planes with a single pilot that take a few passengers sightseeing.

        And all pilots are guided by air traffic control, from major airliners to solo private pilots. Air traffic control is meant to prevent mid-air collisions, an air traffic control system that ignored small aircraft would be pointless.

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  • Honytawk@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Per capita means per unit of people. So by definition the group size does not matter.

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    • gregorum@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You just explained how group size does matter

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