Better safe than brave!!!
It's lack of common sense that kills.
It's get-home-itis that kills.
It's busting personal minimums that kills.
It's not getting recurrent training that kills.
It's the heroism glamour macho culture that kills.
It's the "Oh, you FLY??? How BRAVE!" image that kills.
Steering an airplane is easy. Knowing when not to fly will save your life. Don't ever get coerced into flying outside your personal envelope without an instructor beside you.
Of the people I know that died or were seriously injured flying, only one had an accident in which pilot error was not a factor. And almost all of the deaths were weather related.
And yes, I know many more people who died flying that I know people who died driving (any kind of vehicle)... but to make that statistic a little less skewed, there are more people who can say the exact opposite. So what does that prove?
And how many people admit to having had very close shaves that could easily have killed them if they had been less lucky? Who hasn't had an ILAFFT moment...
Flying is dangerous if you don't impose a safety culture upon yourself. Better safe than brave!!!