On Monday, January 13, 2014 9:58:06 AM UTC-5, kirk.stant wrote:

So you better worry about dying in a glider accident - dude, it happens!

I know that flying is dangerous and I'm actually a "squeaky wheel" about safety issues in pretty much every situation, not just flying. I just think that it is better to do something about a safety issue, than to worry about it. Worry/anxiety clouds the mind. I guess that worry/anxiety is the only thing that motivates some people wrt safety, but that is not me.


And as you get older, you become even more dangerous.

You missed my point. I agree that it's obvious that as piloting capacities deteriorate with age, that we are more likely to do something dumb or make a mistake. But (also obvious) as you get older, your chances of dieing from natural causes in the next few years increase as well.

We don't have the numbers to say whether an 80 year pilot is more likely to die in a glider than a 70 year old pilot. It is probably fair to say that in the last year (or few months) of natural life (assuming a rapid drop-off of mental and physical capabilities), a pilot who continues to fly has a much higher chance of dieing in a glider accident than he did for his entire flying career. I saw that happen once and I plan to stop flying before I become that dangerous to innocent bystanders.