Generally speaking, I would say that the difference in safety between a commercial aircraft and a common car is essentially the quality of who is driving. The

Generally speaking, I would say that the difference in safety between a commercial aircraft and a common car is essentially the quality of who is driving. The first is driven by a professional pilot, someone who belongs to an elite, that has spent many long hours in studying and training, that has passed several (I believe not at all easy) licensing tests, subject to continuous checks (medical, drugs, alcohol, etc.) periodical exams and ability tests, continuous update and that is never or almost never left alone in the cockpit, with a colleague ready to intervene or to assist him/her if/when needed. The second can be driven by anyone, including almost inexperienced kids, elderly people, drivers under the effect of this or that drug, of alcohol, having distractions (think about phones, pets or children in the car), the licensing and medical tests are either extremely easy to pass or very rare, like one every 5-10 years, etc. Still, there are not as many car crashes as there could be (i.e., if you prefer, even sub-standard car drivers can often drive good enough as to not cause too many accidents). We don't have right now the techology to fully replace a single average car driver, and we plan to replace two much higher standard aircraft pilots?