How dangerous is soaring?

Personaly, I have never known anyone who was killed as a result of
soaring. I have, of course, known OF pilots who were killed while
flying, and everyone made some mistake which caused their demise
(well, at least one may have had a heart attack).

However, when I was 19, a girl from my high school and church was
killed in a traffic accident. Should I have quit driving?

An acquantance of mine, and fellow glider pilot Jack Lambe was shot
and killed by his brother. I still have my guns (and I won't argue
with you whether you think I should get rid of them or not) and I
still associate with my brother.

Then too, I have fallen off the top of a 6 foot ladder. No, I was not
killed, but I could have been had my head hit the floor before my
shoulder. Yet I worked for another 20 years as an electrician,
climbing ladders.

I have totaled a 1-26 on the side of a mountain. I still fly.

I have also had a serious motorcycle accident (forced off the road by
an inattentive driver) which could easily have resulted in my death.
I still ride.

My point is, as the man said, "you pays your money, you takes your
chances." If you do not think that the benefit is worth the risk,
don't "pays your money." No one can (or should) decide that for you.
In the end, it is all in your perception because some people crash and
some people don't. Some people die soaring, but some people die in
traffic accidents, some people die falling off ladders, and some
people drown in 3 inches of water after slipping in their bath tub.

I don't believe in predestination, but I happen to be one of those
people who believes that when your time is up, it's up. You coud be
soaring or you could be slipping in the tub. I should have died at
least 5 times by now and although I have been seriously ill or injured
in each of these, for who knows what reason, I am still here. I would
have missed a lot if I let my fear of dying rule my life--don't get me
wrong, the chance of dying is always on my mind.

Having said all of this, I now tell you that you have to ignore what
any one done/said and make up your own mind about flying. If you
can't get past the risk of dying, then by all means, quit flying. If
you decide to go on flying, DO NOT fear it. You have to respect the
dangerous activities (flying, driving, working with electricity,
etc.). You will get in A LOT more trouble flying while being afraid
of flying than you ever will if you fly and respect it.

Whatever you decide, it will be the right decision for you, but not
necessarily for anyone else.


On Oct 30, 2:56 am, wrote:
When I started soaring on mid 80's, everybody said that soaring is the
safest aviation sport, almost safer than most 'real' sports. You can't
brake your leg while flying Only when you hit the ground

Though on a first year 4 pilots that I knew got killed with glider.
Not a good start. And during the years I have counted over 20
fatalities where I can say they either they were my friends or I knew
them well. Plus all the other fatalities. Almost every week on this
group, we get another sad message informing yet another fatality. And
most of the cases, pilots has been extremely experiensed. We know that
they haven't done any stupid moves, they just lost the control of the
plane on wrong situation or the plane has failed on them. I personally
feel that I am on the edge to quit this sport because of that. I don't
want to see not even one more friend passing away. I want to push that
off my mind.

Soaring is the greatest sport I can imagine. No other sport can give
me the feeling, same view, same fellowship etc etc. But is it worth
it???

PS