I might be wrong, but my sense is that now in this soaring season, and
considering *only* quantity of gliders "substantially damaged" or worse, few
semi-regular, US-based, RAS readers would not agree this U.S. season is -
statistical pedantry aside - already distinctly worse-than-recent-years.

Non-midair ship-damage-inflicted hasn't apparently (if still-TBD in some
cases) been limited to uncurrent, inexperienced (total, or in-type) pilots,
or, been an exclusive function of 'bad luck' associated with off-field landings.

Some fundamental questions:
- why aren't we pilots as a group more considerate of our expensive equipment?
- why intentionally shave margins thin in the absence of a compelling reason
to do so...and awareness we ARE doing so?
- have any readers/contributors had (near) incidents in which neither
time-in-type (absence of) or currency (lack of) or 'obvious outside factors'
were factors, and if so, what *were* contributing factors?

Perhaps a wide-ranging, open, discussion of 'the whole safety thing' might be
worthwhile, both here and within our clubs. All pilots (presumably) believe
themselves sufficiently safe as to be unlikely to be PIC in anything other
than a 'pure bad luck' related accident/incident. There may be a few readers
who've even been involved in such.

But my personal 1st-hand experience, combined with a long-standing interest in
learning from the gaffes/unluckiness of other pilots, leads to the personal
conclusion the majority of crunches are NOT 'pure bad luck.' The good news
(considering only my personal experiences) is I've not been a repeat offender,
insofar as 'primary contributors' are concerned. Nonetheless, for me, pushing
weather limits has been one obvious potential "Gotcha!" (Duh!) Big surprise,
given the nature of sport soaring. That said, none of my 3 scratch-n-dent
inducing incidents had weather as a contributor...well, other than, in 2 of
the 3, by inducing soarability, I mean.

For better or worse, I early-on in my PIC-ing concluded I'd be much
happier/safer avoiding crunches, incidents, etc., than trying to explain or
justify how they happened, point being that I actively THOUGHT ABOUT the
possibility I COULD be involved in such. I think the belief not only helped
power/fine-tune my "situational awareness" radar, but favorably influenced all
my future piloting, gliderporting, driving, bicycling, urban pedestrianing,
etc. experiences. Personal safety culture, if you will. And no, I don't
consider my outlook an inoculation against personal lapses of
attention...though I do believe my outlook distinctly decreases the chances
I'll be involved in a self-inflicted incident or accident. (So far, so good!)

What do others think?

Bob W.