While he speaks highly of the Saratoga, he switched to a twin engine in large part for safety reasons. Other pilots, though, prefer a simpler single-engine plane. The crash rate for small planes has fallen steadily in the past two decades, from 10.9 accidents per 100,000 flight hours in 1982 to 7.12 last year. Aviation groups attribute that decline to hundreds of small changes that have collectively improved the skills of pilots and the quality of their planes. The Federal Aviation Administration has required thousands of changes that have toughened flight rules and made safer planes.
Pilots now have better training that relies on lessons from past accidents.
When there is a crash of a small plane, however, it's likely to be at least partly the pilot's fault. Pilots are cited as a cause or contributing factor in 77 percent of accidents and 83 percent of fatal accidents. The environment, which includes weather and lighting, was cited in 45 percent of all accidents and 40 percent of fatal accidents. Most accidents involve more than one cause. Accidents are most likely to occur on weekends, when there's a high percentage of private pilots in the sky.