Having had an engine failure at 1100', I now know that sh!t happens even when you appear to have done all the preparation possible and everything is the equivalent of CAVOK. The interest of non-flying friends afterwards has been interesting and a chance to prove that what's been said above.
However, I'm very, very glad it didn't happen over water...
I have felt far more compromised, in terms of 'danger' in many other situations and few, if any, have been in the air.
When flying, I am in charge of the pre-flight, the planning, the flying, navigation and landing. As I see it, I am the biggest liability. The importance of others is reduced to matters of maintenance and the proximity of other aircraft.
On the ground, the mere existence of other people, whether in cars or not, adds more variables to the outcome of stepping outside ones front door than can be calculated.
Most of us here seem to be reasonably confident that we can accept a degree of calculated risk because the rewards are enormous. For confirmation, I refer all to the G-EMMA's 'postive' thread.