yes, ton of jobs involve small plane. but when there is an accident of small plane, it is usually the hobby pilot for the reasons stated.
sure, there are some bush pilots in america, but the data in that usa today article make no sense. they compare some deaths to a sample of 37k pilots. there are about 300k holders of cpl or atpl in usa. i don't trust that article at all, it is tabloid bullshit.