Most US aviation deaths are from general aviation, not commercial. As you've pointed out, commercial flights in the US are far, far safer than driving almost no

Most US aviation deaths are from general aviation, not commercial. As you've pointed out, commercial flights in the US are far, far safer than driving almost no matter how you want to cherry pick stats. General aviation has an accident rate equivalent to if not higher than automobile accidents. Commercial airline practices and procedures largely work and are very effective at reducing casualties. But some of these small general aviation airports don't even have full time staff coordinating landings and departures and you have to handle that yourself and hope anyone else landing at and taking off from that airport are on the right frequencies. After listening to a few too many aviation accident breakdowns and the reasons behind them, I'm honestly surprised the general population doesn't hear more about these shenanigans and the dangers surrounding the hobby. It's way too easy to mix the commercial airline safety records with general aviation and have a false sense of security around those types of flights. It's one thing when an inexperienced pilot kills themselves through neglect and incompetence, but a very different sort of impact when looking at these reckless pilots who get others killed. Think of any celebrity who has died in an aviation incident from Denver to Kobe and they are all general aviation accidents. Small planes with less experienced or complacent pilots.