On Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 7:49:54 PM UTC-8, wrote:
...all of which fall into the category of poor airmanship (assuming you are depending upon "luck" for a satisfactory outcome), and are preventable..

OK, Tom, this is from one of your previous posts in this thread:

I honestly don't understand the rational here. It seems that the majority of you think you are alive only by luck! I can assure you that that isn't the case. You can't train a pilot to be lucky, only skilled. When someone once told me that I was lucky in life, I replied "I make my own luck."

Tom

Make up your effin' mind.

Mark,

I did explain that, but let's try again. You can make your own luck by inspecting potential landing fields from the ground, rather than from 5,000 ft. You can make your own luck by reviewing all NOTAMs in the area and knowing what runways are out of service. You can make your own luck by clearing all turns rather than depending upon other aircraft to stay out of your way. You can make your own luck by adding extra altitude (say 25%) to the required glide over unlandable terrain. You can make your own luck carefully inspecting your glider prior to each flight. You can make your own luck by monitoring weather reports while flying and landing at an alternate airport. I do all of these and more - you should to.

It gets down to increasing the odds of a successful outcome. I use the same principal in all aspects of my life. I found out that I had prostate cancer, but only after insisting on tests (PSA and a biopsy) to prove it one way or the other. After finding out that I had it, I concluded that the upside (living) outweighed the downside of a radical prostatectomy, so I had it removed and am cancer free after 3+ years. It did cost me one season of flying, but that was a reasonable trade-off. I definitely "made my own luck" on that one!

Tom