On Feb 13, 5:27*pm, "
wrote:

There were 2 BASE fatalities in the US last year. *Soaring is far more
dangerous then we give it credit for.

There's the thing: the plural of "anecdote" is not "data."

You won't get me to disagree with the idea that soaring does not have
a substantial element of risk. We do have to recognize that the
majority of the risks in soaring can be mitigated by careful
operation, but I think that might be a discussion for a different
thread.

I have raced Formula road bikes, done an appreciable amount of rock
climbing, and flown sailplanes, sometimes competitively, for a little
less than forty years. In that time, soaring has been the single
greatest contributor to the number of memorial services I have
attended. So, yeah, I have an idea of how safe soaring is in both
objective and subjective terms.

To put those two BASE fatalities in perspective, we'd need to know how
many BASE jumpers were active in the sport for the year in the US, how
many jumps they made, and how much time they spent participating in
the sport.

Furthermore, to put the year in perspective we'd need to compare it
with other years, and also take into consideration factors that may
account for where it stands in comparison with other years.

And to put the US fatalities in perspective, you would need to compare
them with the rates for other countries in measurable terms such as
fatalities per cycle and per participant-hour.

Based on the reliable statistics I've seen so far, as inherently
unforgiving as soaring is, BASE jumping is around an order of
magnitude less forgiving. But again, if you have well-documented
statistics that show otherwise, I'm certainly open to revising my
assessment.

Thanks, Bob K.