Pilots are, indeed, rare...

Interesting stat Jay. I think you would have to qualify that as people
"piloting an aircraft" versus people "flying." Anyone with $70 that does not
have a paralyzing fear of flying can "fly."

I'm sure there's a stat showing how many people have actually taken to the
air that includes commercial passengers.

Marco


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
...
Here is the answer (well, closer than a guess) to my questions about
pilots:

See:
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/How...edonEarth.aspx

Using these numbers (through 2002) the best estimate is that 106
billion humans have ever lived on this planet.

If we use the estimate of 5 million pilots who have ever lived, we can
see that the number of people in history to have achieved the ability
to fly is something around .0047%, or 1 in 21,200 people...

Humans tried to fly for over 50,000 years, only figuring it out 104
years ago. In other words, for 99.8% of our history, we tried -- and
failed -- to fly. Yet, amazingly, that knowledge is now available to
anyone on the planet for the cost of a used Chevy Lumina.

That, my friends, is what we call "progress"...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Interesting stat Jay. I think you would have to qualify that as people
"piloting an aircraft" versus people "flying." Anyone with $70 that does not
have a paralyzing fear of flying can "fly."

Good point, although that would be akin to counting bus riders as
"drivers".
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Nov 27, 2:58 pm, Jay Honeck wrote:
Interesting stat Jay. I think you would have to qualify that as people
"piloting an aircraft" versus people "flying." Anyone with $70 that does not
have a paralyzing fear of flying can "fly."

Good point, although that would be akin to counting bus riders as
"drivers".
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Skydivers say, "If riding in a plane is flying, then riding in a boat
is swimming". Skydiving is probably more akin to "falling" though....

BTW, lighter than air flight was achieved in the 18th century I
believe...

--Dan

On Nov 27, 4:29 pm, Dan wrote:
On Nov 27, 2:58 pm, Jay Honeck wrote:

Interesting stat Jay. I think you would have to qualify that as people
"piloting an aircraft" versus people "flying." Anyone with $70 that does not
have a paralyzing fear of flying can "fly."

Good point, although that would be akin to counting bus riders as
"drivers".
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Skydivers say, "If riding in a plane is flying, then riding in a boat
is swimming". Skydiving is probably more akin to "falling" though....

BTW, lighter than air flight was achieved in the 18th century I
believe...

--Dan

The Montgolfier brothers, in 1783. But I wouldn't call that
flying. Birds don't use that sort of lift.

Dan

The Montgolfier brothers, in 1783. But I wouldn't call that
flying. Birds don't use that sort of lift.

Although it's cool, floating ain't flying.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
The Montgolfier brothers, in 1783. But I wouldn't call that
flying. Birds don't use that sort of lift.

Although it's cool, floating ain't flying.

Um, why not? There is definitely skill and learning involved.

Anthony Smith and Mark Wagner, writing in the book "Ballooning" (1998)
noted that:

"Balloons, as everyone knows, can only travel with the wind. The wind, as
everyone knows, blows as it chooses, with no one able to modify its
direction. Therefore the notion of competitive ballooning seems strangled
at birth, with every participant being subject to the same overwhelming
forces of the encircling atmosphere. The fact that competitions _are_ held,
and that balloonists _do_ compete, is due partly to the human urge for
confronting others (and hoping to win) but also because the winds are
inconsistent.

....

As the golfer said, "The more I practise, the luckier I get". So too with
ballooning. There is skill in bending chance towards a desirable end, in
giving Dame Fortune a push in the right direction, in blending human
cunning with opportunity.

Besides, unlike a lottery's random choice of winners, the same ballooning
names do tend to be proclaimed at prize-giving time. Pilots doing better
than the rest on one occasion are more likely to do well next time."

Jay Honeck wrote:
The Montgolfier brothers, in 1783. But I wouldn't call that
flying. Birds don't use that sort of lift.

Although it's cool, floating ain't flying.

What is the definition of flying, then?

Matt

Although it's cool, floating ain't flying.

What is the definition of flying, then?

*Controlled* flight.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

wrote:
On Nov 27, 4:29 pm, Dan wrote:
On Nov 27, 2:58 pm, Jay Honeck wrote:

Interesting stat Jay. I think you would have to qualify that as people
"piloting an aircraft" versus people "flying." Anyone with $70 that does not
have a paralyzing fear of flying can "fly."
Good point, although that would be akin to counting bus riders as
"drivers".
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"
Skydivers say, "If riding in a plane is flying, then riding in a boat
is swimming". Skydiving is probably more akin to "falling" though....

BTW, lighter than air flight was achieved in the 18th century I
believe...

--Dan

The Montgolfier brothers, in 1783. But I wouldn't call that
flying. Birds don't use that sort of lift.

Dan


Damn! And all this time I thought they had discovered golf!!
:-)


--
Dudley Henriques