How dangerous is soaring? Is that even the right question?

My glider is safe. It's tucked away in my garage going nowhere. It's not
going to crash - at least until I fly it. Gliders don't crash, they require
a pilot to crash them. Long ago in the early days of flying it was said
that the weakest link in aviation safety is the "loose nut on the control
stick" meaning the pilot. Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us".

The above is not to denigrate anyone alive or dead. In fact, it's a cut and
paste from an e-mail exchange with Stu Kissel. He thought it was a good
observation.

Pilots can sometimes be described as safe or unsafe. Mostly, there're
somewhere in between. Being human, pilots have good days and bad days. For
a pilot, a bad day can be really bad.

Soaring is neither safe nor unsafe - it's just very unforgiving. If you
aren't rock solid sure of your skills, get a second opinion - fly with an
instructor. In fact, even if you are sure, fly with one anyway. Check
rides fall in the category of "cheap insurance." If you are like nost of us
and fly only 20 or so times a year, your skills will fade so schedule
checkrides twice a year. Your insturctor will appreciate the business - and
applaud your good judgement.

Soaring is mostly done solo. We expect a pilot, alone n the sky, under
significant stress, to function at a very high level with no backup of any
kind. Recently, a very unsettling medical news item said that 50% of the
people in the general population over age 50 had experienced at least one
episode of unexplained loss of consiousness. That makes one think about
2-seaters and a second pilot. It makes me think of Stu.

My condolences to everyone - we're all family.

Bill Daniels