Some years ago The Mythbusters did an episode on landing jet airliners. First, without any previous flying experience for any of them, both Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, using a simulator, successfully landed a jet airliner thanks to the plane's advanced computer guidance system.
Next, they tried to land one without the computer guidance system. They both crashed.
Statistics prove that traveling by commercial airliners is far safer than it was even twenty years ago.
Worldwide, and especially in the U.S., deaths from airliner crashes have become extremely rare.
However, in the U.S. alone about 400-500 people die annually in small plane crashes. So if your friend the doctor asks if you want to go on a trip with him the pilot in his small plane, maybe you should think twice about it. Great professionals don't necessarily make great airplane pilots.