Erm, yes, that's what BPF was referring to ...
The fatal accident rate for GA in Canada and the USA was 4 times higher (expressed as accidents per 100,000 hrs flown) in the 1950's as it is now.
Actually, for the (apparently purely US-based) statistics given in the link, taking the averages of 1950-1959 and 2000-2009 gives a fatal accident rate per 100,000 hours flown which is "merely" 3.25 times higher in the 50s than in the latter period.
That doesn't necessarily contradict your experience or even the brief conjecture that "maybe (...) training is of a lower quality (nowadays)", especially referring to airplane handling (e.g., taildragger vs. trike), as landing accidents (whether groundloops or bent nosegears) rarely result in fatalities or even serious injuries
AFAIK.
My personal view on this would rather be that the emphasis on airplane handling may partly miss the point as far as safety is concerned. Sloppy handling and imperfect landings may not be nice to watch, but they rarely kill or injure people. Bad decisions or exploring the envelope too enthusiastically do (same goes for driving
). And to my knowledge the old adage that "
Truly superior pilots are those who use their superior judgment to avoid those situations where they might have to use their superior skills" was not invented by badly trained and ham-fisted children of the magenta line.