"Ed" wrote in message
...

Thanks Dudley. No surprise you agree. Most people in dangerous
professions learn to think this way, or they become a statistic. Test
pilot, fighter pilot, aerobatic pilot, soldier, police officer, fireman,
mountain climber, stuntman, race car driver ... the same mentality is
essential to success. Learn as much as you can, prepare as much as you
can, and stack the odds in your favor so you reach the end in one piece.

The old saying is wrong. There are plenty of old, bold pilots. But they
are all old, bold, careful pilots. There are no old, bold, careless
pilots.

It has always amazed me about the "hero" tag people for some reason
absolutely insist on associating with professionals who engage in dangerous
work. The truth of it, as I'm sure you are well aware, is that the "heros"
get killed off pretty quickly. It's the people who treat these jobs with the
respect they deserve that live to do it again and again.
Race driver Tom Sneva said it better than I ever could one day after he
smacked the wall at Indy at 230 mph and walked away. A reporter stuck a mike
in Tom's puss as he was walking in and asked him the wrong question
:-) The reporter asked,
"Boy...I bet you'd like to be able to try that corner again wouldn't you
Tom?"
Sneva just looked at the guy like he was nuts and said simply,
"Yeah right! ......if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd ALL have a
Merry Christmas!!!"
In flying....it's knowing when to be bold and when not to be bold that adds
up to the "old" part!! :-)
Dudley