Any aircraft you rent should be maintained to Public Transport standards. Most schools maintain a professional attitude in this cos it wouldn't do their business any good if their students met an untimely end on a regular (or indeed irregular) basis.
Privately owned aircraft may be on
a) Private Certificate of Airworthiness whereby all major maintenance is performed by a CAA licensed engineer.
b) Permit to Fly where maintenance may be carried out by the owner/s but has to be signed off by a Popular Flying Association approved engineer who may or may not be a CAA licensed engineer.
I have seen aeroplanes that I would not taxi far less fly but they are very few and far between in the UK. As pointed out above, there are some dickheads who I wouldn't fly with but again, they are also rare.
As pointed out by others above the problems begin when limits, either the pilot's or the aeroplane's, are exceeded. Personally I don't do a weight & balance calc every time I fly. I haven't put on weight (much) recently and I sit in the same seat of the same aeroplane whenever I fly. But I preplan as best I can and do a careful pre-flight before I commit aviation. I carry spare batteries for my handheld radio and GPS and use the current issue of charts and Pooleys. As my Cub is a Permit aeroplane weather should not be an issue cos I'm not allowed to fly in IMC but if it does get bad then I can land in any suitable field (most are).
As long as you minimise the things that can go wrong and react when they do, flying light aircraft is a damn sight safer than driving to the airfield!
Wow, that went on longer than I meant it to. Apologies to all those who fell asleep
Can't spell, won't spell
Point taken autothrottle
[This message has been edited by LowNSlow (edited 04 December 2000).]
[This message has been edited by LowNSlow (edited 05 December 2000).]