Rumours, legends and things people swear are true
Every private-jet story you have heard at a dinner party — the gold-plated 747, the $3,000 biscuits, the jet that outclimbs a fighter — checked, and labelled honestly.
“Private jets are far more dangerous than flying commercial.”
It depends entirely on which 'private jet' you mean. Corporate flight departments flying professionally crewed jets have accident rates comparable to — and in some years better than — the airlines. On-demand charter under FAA Part 135 has historically run a somewhat higher rate, and owner-flown light aircraft are higher again. Lumping all of it together as 'private' is what produces the scary headline.
“Jets flown by a single pilot are accidents waiting to happen.”
Single-pilot certification is a deliberate engineering standard, not a shortcut: aircraft such as the Citation CJ series, Phenom 300, PC-24 and Vision Jet were designed so one pilot can manage everything, with autopilots, autothrottles and, in the Cirrus, a whole-airframe parachute and emergency autoland. The data show single-pilot jets can be flown very safely — but the second pilot remains the single most effective safety feature, and most charter operators insist on one anyway.
“There are no seat-belt rules on a private jet — you can wander around the whole flight.”
Seat belts are required by law for take-off, landing and whenever the captain says so, on private jets exactly as on airliners. Every certified seat has one, including the ones on divans and beds. What differs is enforcement style: nobody makes an announcement, the cabin attendant (if there is one) asks politely, and in smooth cruise you are free to move about. Pilots take unbelted passengers seriously because turbulence injuries on small jets are real.