Young Eagle Safety

I fiddled with the math on the probable number of Y/E hours flown,
and the few known number of nonserious incidents (something like 3
since 1991) to compute the accident rate/100,000 hours. Having a
Y/E aboard is one of the safest ways to fly. The rate is so low
that it isn't necessary to adjust for the fact that most accidents
occur within a few miles of an airport, for a wider variance.

My reaction to this activity I didn't really predict until I got
into it. You simply do not take aloft the child of a parent,
standing right there and talking to you even briefly, trying
actually to sense what you're like, without a serious feeling of
responsibility. You are to return the child or children safely.
If a pilot in the chapter would rather not volunteer for that
unstated reason, even if a good pilot, that pilot has my respect
too. If he or she were to ask me if I was bothered by this, I
would say yes, a bit. I hope it makes me fly properly.

Fred F.