On 14 Sep, 19:43, Dan G wrote:
On Sep 14, 12:36 pm, Ian wrote:

But remember the Idaflieg survey which found no evidence that anyone
had ever made the decision to use a parachute from a glider below
500m and survived.

I posted a link to an accident report earlier where a pilot had a
collision at 1,500' (slightly less than 500 m), and survived by
bailing out.

Thanks. The Idaflieg report was some years ago.

With driving, there are too many other vehicles and too many poor
drivers to guarantee that you can avoid having a collision, so I drive
the safest car I can afford (going by the SafeCar and EuroNCAP tests).

I drive a selection of old cars ... carefully ...

With gliding, however, you have really only yourself to blame if you
have an accident.

I agree. I have always thought the the S&G accident reports should
have a meta-category of reasons (above "instructor failed to take over
in time", "rigging error" and so on) to include "plain bad luck" and
"plain bloody stupidity". The latter would, I am quite sure, cover at
least 90% of accidents.

I still wear a parachute
though - that's a no-brainer, with a proven record of saving lives.

Doesn't that sit uneasily with what you wrote above? It seems a bit
fatalistic.

Ian