That's around 1 in 8 registered airframes. The derived designs were even worse, 6 of 31 berkuts have crashed. Ultimately a big factor is they aren't usually b

That's around 1 in 8 registered airframes. The derived designs were even worse, 6 of 31 berkuts have crashed. Ultimately a big factor is they aren't usually built as kit planes but rather full scratch builds. Each builder is independently sourcing materials and composites are very unforgiving. Kit planes are generally not that bad as the number of ways you can fail in construction is relatively well bounded and there's a lot of feedback into the design side to mitigate these common errors. I'm working on an RV8 and the errata is really something to behold. It's an older 90s design but the factory is still changing parts out on me occasionally as they discover issues. This is much more in line with how certified aircraft work so it stands to reason that they would enjoy a better safety record.