Welcome back, epi lvrs and data geeks!  I am DONE with my MPH (!!!) and can concentrate on all kinds of blogging goodness again.

In today’s episode of Fun with bad stats, we will look at the exciting nexus of death, politicians, and fiery plane crashes.  Let’s break it down.

• 36-year annual average of airplane crash fatalities among members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives: 0.25/year (total of 9 deaths since 1972)

• 5-year annual average of airplane crash fatalities among the general public: 138 deaths; minus the politicians’ deaths, 137.75/year (ha!  3/4 of a death!)

• Odds ratio (calculated using 535 as the Congress population and 285M as the US population): 966.8

Translation: A US Senator or Representative’s odds of dying in an aircraft accident are 966.8 times those of a person who is not in Congress.

Why the stats are bad: A teensy numerator does not a statistically significant calculation make.  Oh, and ’cause the overall average number of deaths is just from the past 5 yrs, not the past 36 (yeah, yeah, could’ve probably found that, but hey?  what do you expect?)  Methodologically, the number’s weak because it does not account for flying frequency.

(No, that’s not one of the crashes of interest — just an interesting pic)

Fox News: US Politicians Killed in Plane Crashes

Nova: How Risky is Flying?

BoingBoing: Man who set up alternate email for White House dies in plane crash