[repiret]

I agree with what you say, but I think it has more to do with (perceptions of) control than the failure modes.

When you’re in an automobile, you could choose to drive faster or slower, safer or more aggressively. You can tell yourself that you are more alert or a better driver to the people who die in fatal car accidents. You can tell yourself that you have a superior ability to avoid that drunk driver who might suddenly veer into your lane from oncoming traffic. And once your car comes to a stop, if you’re not seriously injured, you can just get up and walk away.

In an airplane there’s none of that. You can make vanishingly few choices to affect the safety of your flight. And you’re stuck in that tin can until it’s on the ground and you’re either alive or dead.