When threads turn toward risk, I think it's always good to review
Bruno's thoughts on the subject ---

http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/safety-comes-first-e.html

Bob Johnson


Bruno's stuff is excellent. I recommend it to everyone.
-Bob Korves

"What the other Bobs said!"

It's a slow, overcast, day and things are right for further ruminations on
"the safety topic."

For any who glanced at the link provided by Bill Hoadley earlier in this
thread, it originally was an article for our club's (Soaring Society of
Boulder) newsletter. Coincidentally, it was independently written about the
same time as Bruno Gantenbrink's excellent and thought-provoking talk was
given.

Reason for this note follows...

For the record, I agree in wholehearted principle with everything Bruno
included in his talk. Yet, paradoxically (and as perhaps an odd RAS reader
or two may know for certain: I didn't check before writing this note), I
*think* I have also included in book form the statement Bruno takes to
rightful task, i.e.: The most dangerous thing about soaring is the drive to
the airport.

If I did, you won't find a retraction here, because if I did I also included
a "hidden assumption" I include whenever I think (or write) about the
statement. Namely, "If you can control yourself, you can control most of
the life-threatening risks in the sport."

To me, the drive to the airport is risky because it necessarily involves
interaction with hundreds of other drivers who by the nature of driving can
be thought of as risks beyond your direct control. That's not to say you
can't - and should! - do any number of simple little things that go a long
way to mitigate those uncontrolled risks, but there's just a lot OF them.
And as an accident about 6 road miles from me yesterday afternoon suggests,
even your best efforts may not be enough. There was a fatality at the
intersection of 2 country roads, caused by the driver of one vehicle failing
to stop at a (the only) stop sign (on the smaller, intersecting road). In
this case it was one of his passengers who died, not anyone in the vehicle
he T-boned, but the driver of the hit vehicle could not have actively done
anything reasonable to prevent the crash since the vehicle that hit her
would have been invisible until the last moment due to terrain and visual
obstructions. That she and her passenger survived was a matter of luck (and
preparation - she was using her seat belt and her child was in a restrained
safety seat).

The nature of soaring also includes some risks beyond Joe Pilot's direct
control, but (in my opinion) they're a LOT less volumetrically dense than
those contained in driving. What's different about soaring risks under
DIRECT control of Joe Pilot is many of them have potential to kill him or
her dead each and every time the risks are disregarded, and it's this
disregard (whether active or passive) I had in mind when qualifying the
statement "The most dangerous thing about soaring is the drive to the
airport."

If in fact a soaring pilot tells an unsuspecting member of the public who
may express an interest in pursuing soaring, "The most dangerous thing about
soaring is the drive to the airport," WITHOUT further qualifying it, I agree
with Bruno Gantenbrink an active disservice has been perpetrated. IF the
qualification is included, then I think Bruno's point has been made, while
just coincidentally including the statement he takes to task.

Isn't language a wonderful thing?!? Language - like almost everything else
in life (including soaring) - is a double-edged sword. Use language
carefully. Soar carefully. Have fun!!!

Reflectively,

Bob Whelan