What was more dangerous, the trenches or flying?

Hello. I just read yesterday "Woods 125" by famed author Ernst Jünger, and in one of the chapters he tells us of the jagdfliegerrs he had the pleasure to know,
The portrait he makes of flyers is very insightful, and I was very interested in what this veteran of the trenches had to say about the pilot's life.

It is mentioned that the average life expectancy of a German pilot was 6 months, but it's not specified if that's encompasses all aircrews, or just fighter pilots. I'm curious about what were the survival odds of pilots on both sides. Being a British pilot during "Bloody April" was the most dangerous thing short of shooting yourself in the head, I read that the average British had a life expectancy of 3 weeks.
Just for comparison purposes, I heard that was the same as a British subaltern in the trenches during one of the major offensives.

So how dangerous really was to be a pilot ? without parachutes, the death rate in air combat was huge, but I somehow find it difficult to believe it could be more dangerous than taking part in an infantry assault in the trenches

And pilots certainly had an easier life than the poor devils below.

So any thoughts?

Well, look at it this way: Powered flight had been around for eleven years when the war broke out; aircraft were constructed from fragile, highly-flammable materials and engine reliability often left a lot to be desired. Combine that with minimal instrumentation, no parachutes, often vicious handling characteristics and insufficient training and it isn't even necessary to even face an enemy machine to be in grave danger. Of course on the ground a pilot faced very little danger, whereas an infantryman was in battle during his entire time at the front, but infantry casualties tended to fall off between offensives, whereas a flyer faced the same level of risk all of the time. Also, one has to consider that the casualty rate among infantry subalterns was disproportionately high compared to that among their men. In a ground battle, an officer's uniform set him out as a target and his training and education taught him to lead from the front, whereas a private soldier or junior NCO had the advantage of anonymity. An airman was a target for just about everything as long as he was in the air, regardless of rank. Their lives may have been more comfortable, even superficially glamorous but I wouldn't regard them as safer. In a place like the Western Front, no fighting soldier has anything even close to a soft option.

[Ginger.]

A lot of the young men saw flying as a way of escape from the misery of the trenches.It was not long before the penny dropped that it might be a bit more comfy,but every bit as deadly.

[Michael]

Anyone ever hear of an airman applying for a transfer back to the trenches?

Michael: Well said!
DD

[Stephanie]

Flying was simply more risky than spending time in the trenches - if you signed up with the Twenty-minuters!

Ah, yes, Stephanie, but with Captain Flashheart leading you into battle...woof! woof!...no fear!

[Stephanie]

all you need is a good navigator....

There are many cases of men in or near the front requesting transfer to flying services. However, people forget that for every request there were thousands that did not. The men in the trenches had grand stand seats for watching HOW aviators died. Obviously, most preferred to take their chances in the trenches.