[jorvi]

Chartered (= small) planes crash sometimes. Helicopters crash a lot.

Big airline crashes are virtually non-existent, to the point where US airlines had 16 fatality-free years until this January, on 210 million flights. Flying commercially is mind-boggingly safe.

[rtkwe]

To be a bit pedantic this isn't a chartered flight. That's a whole level above this that does require some more specialized licensure. Carl was flying his own plane so this would be good ol' General Aviation. A private pilot's license is not allowed to offer flights for pay only cost sharing (at least in the US) and only for flights the pilot would otherwise have taken without passengers (tougher to prove but easy to mess up if you're trying to skirt the law).