Wes, I mostly agree with you. But note that I said "excessive number," not a "large number," of pilots are killing themselves. I do think it's excessive when so many incidents are caused by things that really shouldn't be happening, like fuel exhaustion and continued VFR into IMC. And I think better training can help prevent some of those accidents. I believe that continuing training, whether it's unusual attitude training, instrument training, or whatever, almost always results in a better, safer pilot.

I agree that GA does not have a safety crisis, but I do think that we as GA pilots have an added burden in the public eye because flying is something most people don't do, and therefore it's something they cannot easily relate to. An airplane going down in the woods somewhere and killing its occupants is more exotic to the public than an SUV going off a highway into a tree, and therefore, for better or worse, more newsworthy. It just means we have to be prepared to explain GA's safety record to our non-flying friends when asked.