Well... yes. Plenty of people do (and actual alternatives to flying) specifically because they consider flying too dangerous, uncomfortable, unwieldy, etc. and

Well... yes. Plenty of people do (and actual alternatives to flying) specifically because they consider flying too dangerous, uncomfortable, unwieldy, etc. and everyone agrees a crash is unlikely but catastrophic. But you're being pedantic now. Nobody takes the plane to a place they can walk to. Many people don't take the plane even to a place where they can go by train or car. I understand that you may have to work with something like ClF3 but what everyone is telling you is that they'd rather avoid it if they have a choice. Just like most people would avoid working with unstable explosives, dangerous pathogens, extreme sports, and any very dangerous job in general even if all of these have their own set of precautions. As the danger level increases people justifiably would rather avoid that specific task. Precautions are a mitigation but overall the sentiment stays, the job becomes much more stressful and the outcome of a mistake more severe. The more dangerous the task and more severe the consequences of a mistake, the fewer the people that would want to deal with it. Take from this what you will.