rob-ginger said
But the silly thing is most of us drive to and from the airport, and you're MUCH more likely to get killed in a car accident.
Not necessarily. It depends whether you measure risk per kilometer, per hour or per journey.
The reason Air Travel is generally seen as much safer is that most statistics quote deaths per passenger kilometer, which is favourable to large vehicles travelling long distances. Even the space shuttle doesn't do bad on that measure despite two fatal accidents in only a few dozen flights.
...but if you have an average car journey to the airport, followed by an average flight - the riskiest part is the flight.