The aviation industry shouldn’t dwell on statistics, they should focus on fatal accident causal factors, and gear training and proficiency standards toward reducing those mishaps. My research on this issue has revealed the Automation Factor. These new gizmos are tremendously helpful for flight crews, but when they’re pickled, or especially when they malfunction, some pilots are left with diminished flying skills to deal with demanding flight conditions: Low airspeed, low power, high drag configurations, task saturation, etc. The Houston Cirrus tragedy had me scratching my head. A 400 hour pilot couldn’t complete THREE approach attempts in VMC weather to a major facility, and wound up spinning into a parking lot. The Cessna 414 mishap at Santa Ana may have been a similar type of accident.
Pilots aren’t flying their airplanes, and that aspect of their operational activity has a significant bearing on their ability to take command without automation during critical phases of flight.