Major airline pilot is quite safe. There have been like a single digit number of fatal accidents among American major airlines in the 21st century not counting 9/11? That CRJ-700 that collided with a military helicopter in Washington is like, the only accident involving that type.

I used to be a flight instructor. On a fundamental level, what that job is is climbing into the passenger seat of an airplane while someone who is not qualified to fly the plane climbs into the pilot's seat and does as much of the flying as possible.

Airline operations are pretty safe during enroute flying; they're at high altitude miles above terrain on IFR flight plans participating in air traffic control to assist in separation from other aircraft. It gets dangerous when you're near the ground and especially near airports because there's more things to crash into. The vast majority of general aviation flight instruction takes place within 5,000 feet of the ground. There was a large TV mast within sight of the airport I taught at with two surface-to-air kills.

Operating near airports is particularly dangerous. The pilot's workload increases dramatically; enroute you might actually get bored, during departure or approach your workload is very high. Couple that with the increased concentration of other air traffic, low altitude of flight and the fact you're going to touch the ground, on purpose...is there a wonder a lot of accidents take place on or near airports? That recent mid-air collision I mentioned? Happened within a mile or two of the runway. A major airline pilot might land 4 times a day? Maybe as few as one for trans-continental or trans-oceanic pilots. Hell, there are some crews that take off, fly for a few hours, then go to bed as another crew takes over to land the plane. Regional jet pilots might land a plane 8 or 10 times in a day on more, shorter trips. My record is 86. I did 7 hours of instruction one day when all of my students just happened to be practicing landings so I did an entire work day in the pattern logging between 11 and 13 landings each. At an uncontrolled airfield, in VFR flight, self-announcing and coordinating with other aircraft in the pattern or arriving on IFR approaches.

Add to that airframes and power plants designed in the 50's, manufactured in the 70's and still in use today, significantly less oversight of aircraft operators, maintenance personnel and air crews compared to the airlines, and I think you're starting to see my point.

Most pilots aren't widebody Boeing or Airbus pilots.

high chance of crashes due to miscommunicaiton, or mental breakdown?