Deaths per year per million occupant/miles would be a better number to know
Sadly, the regulators don't gather data on flight hours, landings, numbers on board, or any other statistics needed for this analysis.
However, there is little doubt that some areas of sport aviation offer risk equivalent to motorcycling without a crash helmet, on a wet road. Others do better.
None of them approach the levels achieved by commercial air transport operations in large jets, and they should never pretend to do so. Flying school instructors who, when challenged by nervous 'trial lesson students', say, 'you're taking a greater risk driving to the airfield', are lying, pure and simple.
