Me have been thinking for a while.
Assume that you would have to carry out an operation meaning that you would use an aircarft to fly a person from A to B.
Given an identical route with exactly the same conditions (wx, technical maint., pilot exper.), - which type of operation would give the highest risk exposure of say a R22 helicopter or a Cessna 172 fixed-wing.
Bear in mind that the we shall assume that the pilots also have been trained in exactly the same conditions (except for fixed-wing vs. rotary) and they have reach the same level of experience (in terms of hours, maturity, academic background, risk management skills etc.)
I am not after each categories absolute risk exposure, only the relative one among these two categories.
Would the operation from A to B be more exposed to risk operating it with an R22 (or say single engine piston helicopter) than with a SEP fixed-wing?
What I am really curious to find out is if helicopter flying is inherently dangerous (due to the helicopter's instability or whatever reason) or if it is the operations which helicopters are involved in wich introduces the extra element of risks into rotary flying.
Personally I would feel better if the answer would be that it is the operations wich introduces the extra elements of risk as this would give me a feeling of tthat it is possible to controll my "fate" to a higher level.
Anyone got an idea?