How You are Going to Die. Hint — not Parachute jumping.

Fred Krueger

Aug 15, 2018·1 min read

I looked up fatality rates for different “activities”, based on “normal” usage rates for each activity / hobby

- Fly commercial 10 times per year 1/160,000
- Parachute Jump 12 times per year 1/50,000
- Drive 20k miles per year: 1/5,000
- Fly 100 hours in a private plane: 1/1,000
- Jump 10 base jumps in a year 1/200
- Climb Mount Everest once a year 1/15

In general, dying of medical reasons in any year (heart disease, cancer)
- 20’s 1/1,000
- 30’s 1/500
- 40’s 1/300
- 50’s 1/100
- 60’s 1/75
- 70’s 1/25
- 80’s 1/10

Conclusion:

other than base jumping and everest, none of these activities is particularly dangerous. If you are in your 50’s base jumping is less dangerous than just getting cancer or a heart attack.

Backup math:

Commercial aviation 0.6 fatalities per million Parachute jumping 21 per million jumps. Driving 1 in 100 Million miles, General Aviation 1 per 100,000 flight hours, Base Jumping 1/2,000 jumps.