Gonna need you guys to read CFR 61 and 141 real quick or this discussion is going to languish. More or less: scheduled commercial airline service like American Airlines 587 which crashed into NYC shortly after 9/11 falls under part 141 and crashes are extremely rare.
However, certain commercial operations like air taxis and flight instruction fall under the much less restrictive part 61 and there are tons of incidents all the time.
Original poster meant to say part 141 has been very good at making airline safely profoundly good lately.
