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People are afraid of flying because they aren't in control. When you or someone you can see is behind the wheel, you have more control, which makes you feel safer (even though having that control makes things more dangerous).

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That's why the world is so terrified of trains.

I'm not sure whether you were joking or not - train crashes get massively disproportionate coverage compared to car crashes

Sure, but he wasn't talking about coverage but about fear of flying. Very few people are afraid of riding a train in the same sense that many are afraid of flying in a plane. It's an interesting point.

Train crashes are still a big deal, but if you're in a train crash and survive then rescue vehicles/personnel will show up. If your plane breaks up or whatever and you survive, you're almost certainly going to die when you hit the ground. Gravity and velocity are much bigger factors than for trains, in general.

The Asiana plane crash at SFO last year where only 2 or 3 people died as the plane crashed and broke up upon landing is very, very unusual.

Very, very very unusual. I thought it was a relatively low energy crash before viewing amateur video that made it clear that near the end the nose was on the ground and the rest of the plane pivoted around it 270 degrees or more (!). The crash bled off energy in a slow, survivable way.

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