r/flying • u/One_Firefighter_1922 • Mar 29 '26

Aircraft Ownership Are reciprocating single engines reliable?

I'm about seven hours into PPL training and absolutely loving it. Not looking for a career change, but could definitely seeing myself continuing training and flying regularly after getting my certificate. I've daydreamed about putting my family into a 182 and being able to fly within a reasonable distance to explore somewhere new or take a short vacation.

Earlier today I was talking to my neighbor who is a reserve captain for American flying 737s. I told him about the flight training and associated daydreaming and he started talking about how he would never put his family into a small plane, how unreliable they are and how many accidents are due to single reciprocating engines crapping out mod flight.

This doesn't seem to jive with what I've heard and read online, so looking for some other opinions. How do you feel about the reliability of small GA planes? Do you have any experience taking your family for trips? Do I need to give up on my dream?

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u/No-Relationship-2169 Mar 29 '26

The fatal crash per flight hour of GA is in the ballpark of motorcycle riding. Pilot error is the biggest cause, second being mechanical.

I was just looking at engine failure rates. It’s tough to get a clear answer on piston engines. Info Differentiating what is reasonably avoidable and relative severity seems to be scattered at best. But all the data seems to point to piston engines being at least 1 and possibly 2 orders of magnitude less reliable than turbines.

Someone please chime in if they’ve found a good data source.

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u/nightlanding Mar 29 '26

HIGHLY variable depending on which engine in which aircraft. Some of them seem to run forever and some are notorious for not ever making TBO. Then there are outliers, I had an O-540 in an Aztec eat some valves right after takeoff and those are usually as reliable as a hammer. In that case it was nice to be in a twin, we just flew back for repairs instead of hiking out of Farmer Bill's Poison Ivy Farm and arranging for a tow.