On flying private planes

I refer to Flying is dangerous in America from Odo Fadloeli, (The Jakarta Post, Aug. 10, 1999).

While I agree that it's tragic that several prominent Americans, most recently including John F. Kennedy, Jr. and John Denver, have died in single-engine airplane crashes, I cannot support your conjecture that flying is dangerous in America.

There are private airports all across America with millions of small planes owned and flown safely by trained, licensed individuals.

Often private planes are the fastest, most convenient transportation to hard to reach places (such as Martha's Vineyard where JFK Jr. was headed).

Most crashes are due to pilot error and not to "such naturally risky phenomenon as tornadoes", which are extremely rare and localized. Pilots are warned of bad weather conditions before they take off as well as by radio while they are flying. The risk of flying into a tornado in America is about the same as being struck by spew from a volcano in Java. John F. Kennedy, Jr. and John Denver had independent spirits; they wanted to be in charge of their own destinies. They, like millions of Americans, achieved complete freedom of movement through their private planes.

Although the risk of private airplane flight seems great because highly publicized crashes, statistically it is much safer to fly than to drive in America.

ROYDEN O. HURLBURT

New York