How’s this for reassuring? Ever watch WWII documentaries? They had shots of airplanes with holes blown in them, noses shot off, control surfaces missing… and they made it home. These were airplanes people were trying to knock down but couldn’t. Aircraft are among the safest machines built today.
My dad would do the same thing with his nervous passengers. If the passenger asks, “What happens if the engine quits?” he’d explain that the aircraft is perfectly capable of gliding. Then he’d suggest pulling the power to idle to demonstrate. If the passenger didn’t want him to, he didn’t. If the passenger asked about “stalls” (which are quite different from stalls in cars) he’d offer to demonstrate those. Again, he would only do it if the passenger consented.
