Private flying

Is private flying safe?

It is a real risk, closer to a sport like paragliding than to an airline flight. In the US, general aviation had about 0.65 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours in 2023, on figures from AOPA's Air Safety Institute, and the FAA estimates 0.68 for fiscal 2024. Because most people aboard a fatal crash die, that works out to about 7 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per flight hour. A typical one- to two-hour trip carries 7 to 15.

A 2022 study of UK paragliding put that sport at roughly twice the risk of general aviation, which fits. Commercial airline flights are in a different league altogether.

The good news is that most of the risk sits with the pilot's decisions, and the rate is falling.

The numbers

Year	Fatal accidents per 100,000 hours	Fatal accidents	Deaths
FY2017	0.83	209	347
FY2019	0.95	243	426
FY2021	0.75	192	323
FY2023	0.71	200	335
FY2024 (est.)	0.68	195	337

Source: FAA General Aviation Safety Fact Sheet, 2025. The FAA counts all general aviation, which covers more than 275,000 aircraft, from homebuilt planes and balloons to business jets.

That average hides a spread. Business jets flown by two professional pilots are much safer per hour than the fleet as a whole. Personal flying in small piston aircraft carries most of the toll: of the 186 fatal general aviation accidents in 2023, 156 involved non-commercial fixed-wing aircraft.

What causes small plane crashes

The FAA and industry rank the causes of fatal general aviation accidents from 2014 to 2023. The top five:

1. Loss of control in flight. Stalls and spins, often at low height while turning to land or after an engine problem on take-off.
2. Power system failure. Engines, propellers and fuel systems.
3. Unknown. The aircraft is missing or too little is known.
4. Controlled flight into terrain. A working aircraft flown into a hill, often in poor visibility or at night.
5. Flying into bad weather by accident, usually a pilot without an instrument rating who continues into cloud and loses control.

Fuel problems come seventh, mid-air collisions ninth. AOPA's analysis of 2023 found about 70% of non-commercial fixed-wing accidents linked to what the pilot did or did not do. Mechanical accidents rose to 187, with 33 fatal, up from 21 the year before.

Who is most at risk

Risk is not spread evenly across pilots. Patterns that show up again and again in accident reports:

• Pilots who fly rarely. Skills such as stall recovery and crosswind landings fade fast.
• Visual-only pilots facing marginal weather, especially with pressure to get home.
• Low-level manoeuvring, such as buzzing a friend's house or flying through valleys.
• Unfamiliar or newly bought aircraft, particularly faster and more complex types.
• Night flying over mountains or water, where an engine failure leaves nowhere to land.

How to fly more safely

1. Set written personal minimums for cloud base, visibility, wind and night flying, and stick to them on the day.
2. Fly often, and train beyond the minimum. A flight review every two years is the legal floor in the US. Regular sessions with an instructor on stalls, engine failures and go-arounds are what keep the skills alive.
3. Get an instrument rating or at least practise flying by instruments, so cloud is a problem and not a death sentence.
4. Plan fuel with a large reserve, and land to refuel early rather than stretch a leg.
5. Treat the engine with suspicion. Use a proper pre-flight, follow the maintenance schedule and brief yourself on a take-off engine failure every time.
6. Carry a personal locator beacon and file a flight plan, so rescuers know where to look.

As a passenger, the question to ask is simple: how current is the pilot, and will they cancel if the weather is marginal?

How we scored it

Fatality risk (64) reflects about 7 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per flight hour, in the same band as hang gliding and paragliding per flight. Controllability (72) is good because most accidents follow from pilot decisions and handling, and injury risk (72) reflects the fact that many accidents are minor runway mishaps. Rescue and environment (60) is weaker because crashes away from airports can happen in remote places.