Wow, great explanation, ldoolitt!
One thing I'll add - I love CR problems that offers statistics as premises, because almost always the flaw in argument is that the chosen statistic doesn't match the conclusion. If you buy into that, you can very often, as ldoolitt did, go into the answer choices already knowing what you're looking for because you've identified that disconnect between statistic and conclusion.
Here, "lowest fatality-per-crash" ratio does not necessarily mean "safest". To have a truly safe plane you want it to not crash at all! So as soon as I see that the conclusion is "safest plane" but that the statistic is "fatalities-per-crash", I'm already thinking, "well, what if this plane crashes a lot?". And that's directly consistent with C.
Honestly, I feel like most CR problems using stats are just handing you the right answer if you look closely at that gap between statistic and conclusion. But it's a good check for business acumen - how often have you been solicited with promises like "save up to $_________!" (but how much do you have to spend?) or "prices as low as _________" (but if that's the lowest, what am I actually going to pay?). B-schools need people who can recognize that just because it has a number doesn't mean that the number is relevant to what the speaker/author wants you to conclude!
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep
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