Every plane has an undertimined number of flights in it... enjoy every flight.

I pretty much concur with the rough stats listed so far. We all crash. However, once you learn good ground safety checks, and you fly within your limits, you can be rewarded with hundreds if not thousands of flights without a major incident.

Typically there is always something you can salvage. I've only had one incident where I could not salvage anything. The plane caught fire after it hit (yes, while extremely rare, glow planes will catch on fire.) For major impacts, just be sure to closely check items or send them in to service before placing them back into service.