Pilot Mindsets and Enhanced Safety

On Aug 21, 3:01*pm, BobW wrote:
I recently received a note from a subscriber in Europe as follows:

Many years ago, a large glider club in Europe found itself confronted
with a steep increase in insurance premiums after a series of glider
accidents. The proposed insurance premiums would have exceeded the total club
subscription revenues, so the club was at risk of folding.

The chairman of the club read the Riot Act (much needed today) to the
members and said they were no longer going to rely on the insurance
company, but were going to self-insure. (The statement is recorded in
the club newsletter.)

Anyway, that dramatic response to the crisis worked.

Accidents were dramatically reduced, and with further changes to
practices and procedures, the club survives to this day.

As have a lot of people who might otherwise have been killed!

The message is clear: If the current accident rate is going to be
reduced, it will take the attention and cooperation of all glider
pilots, who will develop a new approach to being involved and watching
out for their fellow pilots.

Tom Knauff

End quotation

I suspect I was treasurer of the said club at the time. The inference
that the decision was about safety is charming but, I am afraid, is
incorrect. The decision was to self insure gliders with a value of
£10k or less. This was simply a financial decision. If we made any
claims during a season we lost c. £20k of rebate on the policy. It
made no sense therefore to make claims on low cost gliders and,
therefore, made no sense to insure their hulls.

Jim