The following web site has some interesting information and perspectives:
http://www.fearlessflight.com/airplane-disasters-plane-crash-statistics[/url]
They don't quote their sources, but some thought can verify that the basic premise is correct. Sure, he may "always" see news of a plane crash tragedy, but even if there is a new one every day (which I'm pretty sure there is not), the number of airplane flights each day worldwide is a really large number (I'd estimate it in the thousands... indeed, the following source seems to suggest that domestic flights in the USA alone number around 27,000 per day)... so flying is probably statistically safer than driving.
(Of course, this isn't meant to trivialize the emotions involved... seeing such tragedies certainly is scary, and makes me wary of flying soon after them... though I often find that repeating to myself that it is statistically unlikely helps, but that's just me).