12 x times? well, sometimes I feel safer in the air than driving on the road. But this is about feelings, not statistics. And too far from original topis of this thread.
I wonder what kind of motorbike that could be…
That must be either a very cheap plane or a VERY expensive motorcycle :-)
The airplane in question was purchased all in all in the 35k Euro range and runs well since. The bikes we were talking about were in the 40-50k Euro range, I believe Harley Davidson and a Ducati are what I remember, I don’t know bikes too well. The caravan in question turned out to have been purchased for close to 50k Euros too and cost an arm and a leg to keep. And yes, there are boats in the 2000-3000 Euro range too, but I have it from one flight instructor who also is a motorboat fan that the average price of boats at the Lake of Zürich is way above 100k….
The fact is, for that kind of money, you can buy and fly a small plane for a pretty long time. Only recently a guy I used to talk to who had been looking to buy for about 3 years took home a lovely Traveller for less than 15k. From what I hear he flies it happily (in France).
I have not made a science about the “dangers” but for all practical purposes I am quite sure the accident rate of the said bikes is much higher. At least that is what an insurance broker I talked to told me about 2 years ago.
I know no Ducati in that price range, and even if it exists – comparing aircraft ownership to having a motorcycle is crazy, sorry. what I pay for my hangar would finance a very nice motorcycle for a year, all of it.
Yes, I feel safer in the airplane many times. But the times I was scared I was more scared than I have ever been in a car ;-))
I recall a statistic from the 90’s saying that light GA and motorcycles had about the same risk level.
I recall a statistic from the 90’s saying that light GA and motorcycles had about the same risk level.
I have heard this quoted several times, but I haven’t seen the source yet. Personally, I knew more people who died in flying accidents than in road accidents including motorbikes.
Well, I would only ride a Ducati…
How shallow is that ? 
Re the dangers, I have done about 150000km on motorbikes (1970s mostly, when the UK had 1/3 as many cars on the road as today, and far fewer “blind” people driving, if you get what I mean) and I’d say 90+% of the danger with bikes is car drivers hitting you. If there were no cars, the only dangers (for a non crazy person) would be oil or leaves on the road, and stuff like that).
Concerning GA “recreational activity” safety I recommend this website. Philip hosts a lot of very interesting aviation related content:
http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/safety
Back to the topic of operating an airplane and remaining cost neutral or even profitable I gather that it is
- very capital intensive
- a small, saturated market
- difficult to predict all the variables (maintenance etc…)
- strongly regulated.
The used 20.000 Euro SEP could well turn out to be a good deal if you plan on flying it heavily yourself compared to what you pay by the minute for a chartered one, it could however also require an engine change and set you back 50.000 Euro plus.
To expand the topic a little further than the initial thread title:
Why is there so much more “GA” in the U.S.A. vs. E.U.? Geography? Public “acceptance” and need?
http://www.surfair.com
http://www.wheelsup.com
Most of all Philipp has a lot of prejudice and distributes a lot of wrong information. And he will never correct any of it.
