General aviation is something you do out of love, not to save money.
That happens with boats, too.
Perhaps not as often - boats don't fall out of the sky when they stop working - but it happens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift-to-drag_ratio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift-to-drag_ratio
I live around Albany, NY. In the past 18 months, there have been at least 4 fatal crashes that I can recall as a casual newspaper reader. Usually it's related to tired/inexperienced pilots combined with some other factor (mechanical, weather, etc).
One that I remember as a kid growing up in farm country was a guy who had an engine failure. Like you said, he didn't just fall out of the sky... he tried to glide into a field, and just missed it. Wing clipped a tree.
I did not intend that metaphor to be literal.
It's reported at 5.4 deaths per 100.000.
I've been involved in some ugly accidents myself as a crew member (a broken mast off the coast) and the only thing I got from that is an anecdote :) .
Unless you're in a mid-Atlantic crossing or caught in a storm, most screwups are recoverable. That's not to say you don't have to respect the sea - you definitely do.
http://www.uscgboating.org/statistics/accident_statistics.as...
sailing.about.com/od/navigationseamanship/a/Why-Sailors-Die-The-Most-Important-Safety-Lesson.htm
Oh, sure. I'm personally aware of only one yacht casualty, and that was sudden and unexpected. The boat jibed while the fellow was standing, the boom swept across ...