"Michael" wrote in message
ups.com...
Icebound wrote:
.... snip...

The Snowbirds safety record is certainly comparable to the Blue
Angels. The
Blue Angels have had one training/show death for every 14 million
spectators, while the Snowbirds record is 1 for 20 million
spectators.

That's certainly an interesting way to asess safety. The implicit
assumption here is that it's OK to have more fatalities if you draw
sufficiently bigger crowds, as this will make your death/spectator
ratio lower. ...snip...

That was not the purpose of the comparison.

The purpose of the comparison was to indicate that their safety record is
similar if not better than other aerobatic teams. This made me wonder about
the safety record of "private" aerobatic teams, for which little data is
available. And it also made me wonder whether it was fair to compare the
record of aerobatic teams with complex shows... whether private or not....
against GA statistics.

As for government funding.... as I said before, governments fund many other
way-less-useful projects (and not just a piddling 10 million). Here is one
that not only entertains both the participants and the spectators, but
generates endless good-will and visibility for the Country and the Military.