1. These people were going from Austin to Freeport Bahamas. Statistically they’d have had much higher chances of dying if they went with car + ferry
2. Considering how everythinng related to aviation immediately becomes first page news this is the first incident with victims in iirc 60ish days for civil aviation on a global level . So much more life was enjoyed thanks to aviation and so many miles traveled and places visited in safety thanks to aviation
3. dying in a scary manner should not be considered a pejorative compared to dying while in sleep. The point of living is to fill one’s life , not avoiding ‘scary deaths’ and aviation makes you fill your life better than any means of transportation known to man
Most of the same considerations also apply to nuclear energy