I'm a bit late to this party, but I had to follow up on some of this (I'm a low-time pilot)

I read at least one post that was incredibly full of factual errors. (I'm not trying to give offense, but I don't want people getting the wrong information.) Here's the thing: if you're not a pilot, you're probably not an expert. There's too much out there you don't know. If you are, you quite possibly aren't an expert in what you're "taking a ride" in (but then you probably don't need this advice). So...

1) How do you recognize an expert?

Pilots tend to be consistent in their flying. If someone is very careful about the way they do, say, their pre-flight check then there's better odds that the'll be careful about everything else. Ask them to show you what they do to preflight. Ask where you're going and how you'll get there. You can tell if the person has planned their flight. Most pilots *LOVE* to talk about flying, so all you have to do is ask a question or two. It's getting them to shut up that's the trick. If someone has a "kick the tires and light the fires" attitude you might want to reconsider.

2) It's more or less risky than you think.

People either have the idea that flying is incredibly safe (most pilots like to think this) or incredibly risky. Actually, according to reliable sources (e.g. the Nall Report), flying light aircraft is about as deadly overall as riding a motorcycle: about 7 times the fatalities as automobiles per passenger mile. Commercial aviation is about the same amount safer than driving. Most flying accidents are directly tracable to something the pilot did or did not do.