Having flown family and friends and done a substantial amount of on-demand passenger charter flying in singles and light twins, carrying all kinds of people (from babes-in-arms - to old folks who had to be assisted into the airplane - to invalids) over an aviation career that has spanned more than half a century, I have had an opportunity to observe and draw some conclusions regarding passenger attitudes toward general-aviation travel. It is said that the fear of flying in air-carrier aircraft is predominantly based on the lack of control one feels sitting crammed in a long tube while some yo-yo up front drives it through the sky with nothing to hold it up there but air. The air-carrier passengers believe that the slightest mistake on the part of that guy up front will result in that huge machine falling out of the sky and crashing to earth, killing all aboard. They feel that they are taking their lives and putting them in the hands of they-know-not-who to do they-know-not what. They expect the machine to crash and burn. They expect to die, and although there is no doubt an element of this feeling of having no control over one's destiny in general-aviation airplanes, the situation is really quite different.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/features/eye-of-experience-54the-general-aviation-passenger