Dudley Henriques wrote:
"Jose" wrote in message
et...
The secret however, to reaching the "old" end of the equation, is to be
smart......REAL smart!!!
Isn't that another way of spelling "lucky"?

Can't speak for the guys getting shot at, but in my end of the business
(display flying in fighter planes) we did all we could to take luck out of
the equation.

There is of course, always the element involving the unknown factor, but
those of us who retired old and are now on Usenet enjoying dialog with our
peers instead of ending up at the bottom of a six foot hole in the ground
learned the first day on the job never to rely on "luck".
Vince Lombardi was an inspiration to me as a pilot and I based much of my
career in aviation as a pilot on his philosophy. In teaching people to fly
airplanes, I always taught from the Lombardi point of view.
"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch
excellence"
On the issue of "luck"; Another coach, Darrel Royal put it nicely for all
pilots doing airshow demonstration work when he said,
"Luck happens when opportunity meets preparation: :-))))

No, that is the definition of success, not luck! :-)

Matt