Various snipperinos...
Eric Greenwell wrote...
Stewart Kissel wrote:
One thing that has always bothered me with comparing
the fatality rate of autos to gliders is....with autos,
you got a pretty good chance of getting killed by another
driver. In gliders, you are almost always responsible
for your own death. So I am not sure how valid the
accident comparison rate is between the two.

My interpretation is this: I've known (met, flown with, talked to,
corresponded with, not just heard their name) ten or more glider pilots
killed in glider accidents, but none that were killed in a car accident
on their way to or from the airport; for that matter, I can think of
only one pilot I knew that was killed in a car accident anywhere.

For the record, my take is this. Anytime you go faster than you're willing
to hit a brick wall, or higher than you're willing to fall, you're opting
for life-threatening risks. For me, driving obviously qualifies as the
former, and arguably as the latter if I manage to go off a bridge or the
side of a mountain/mesa. Soaring obviously qualifies as both each time I do
it.

Consequently each time I indulge in either I try to maintain an active
awareness that each activity involves energies high enough to easily kill
me. Personally, driving makes me more uneasy than soaring for the reason
Stewart noted: many of the actively-life-threatening risks are beyond my
direct control. Yet paradoxically, my driving-/soaring-acquaintance 'death
stats' mirror Eric's (and Bruno Gantenbrink's) experiences. Arguing about
(as distinct from discussing) 'which activity is safer' strikes me as an
exercise in futility, because one can 'prove' whatever they want and thus
it's an unending argument (well, at least until I die, ha ha).

Acting with constant awareness that each activity contains immediate
potential to suddenly kill me, combined with training, continuing education
and good judgement is the best I can do. I've difficulty imagining living
life without indulging in either activity, so that's how I attempt to
control the risks of both (and any other activity I must - or choose to -
indulge in). Makes sense to me!

Weenily,
Bob - still has all his fingers - Whelan