"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote:

George Patterson wrote:

Basically, it was go now, or wait several minutes wasting time and
fuel at the hold short line. I've done the same thing.

I got that at RDU once. They told me to expedite 'cause a Delta 737
was on a four mile final. I was 400' up when I passed the tower.

I had a courier job once where I flew out of RDU five days a week. On
numerous occasions I was given a "go now or hold your piece (spelling
intentional)". I'd forego the wake separation, blast off and turn
onto course once I was 20 feet or so in the air... getting away from
the centerline ASAP so someone else could use it. Sometimes they'd
let me go before an airliner that got there first simply because they
knew I wouldn't be a factor for very long at all. The airliners
couldn't do the same.

My cancelled checks sitting in the back never complained.

Do such actions also help explain the high fatality rate of commercial
pilots, one of the highest rates of any occupation?