In Flight Emergency

On Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at 10:00:05 PM UTC+13, Justin Craig wrote:
Surely it is safer to wear a chute than not? Is it not flawed logic to fly
one glider with a chute and another without?

It is even safer to stay on the ground.

But marginal increases in safety do not automatically trump all other factors such as convenience, cost, excitement, and the satisfaction of mastering skills. They have to be weighed up carefully, bearing in mind that no matter how careful we are we won't be here more than about 80 years on average .... and never more than about 110.

I've been a member of the same gliding club for 29 years now. It has generally had 80 - 100 members. During that time no one has died flying a glider. I'm pretty sure no one has used their parachute either. Several gliders have been written off, and one guy broke his ankle or lower leg. About 10 - 15 of our members regularly take part in competition flying, and a number of them have been national champion in various classes or undertaken record attempts (some of them with Steve Fossett, who also didn't die in a glider).

Certainly there is danger, but it's not like, say, motorcycling or bicycling. I've lost a number of friends in both those.

If we have the misfortune of colliding in the air, I will be sure to
comfort your grieving widow.




At 11:09 18 March 2015, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at 10:00:05 PM UTC+13, Justin Craig wrote:
Surely it is safer to wear a chute than not? Is it not flawed logic to
fl=
y
one glider with a chute and another without?=20

It is even safer to stay on the ground.

But marginal increases in safety do not automatically trump all other
facto=
rs such as convenience, cost, excitement, and the satisfaction of
mastering=
skills. They have to be weighed up carefully, bearing in mind that no
matt=
er how careful we are we won't be here more than about 80 years on
average
=
.... and never more than about 110.

I've been a member of the same gliding club for 29 years now. It has
genera=
lly had 80 - 100 members. During that time no one has died flying a
glider.=
I'm pretty sure no one has used their parachute either. Several gliders
ha=
ve been written off, and one guy broke his ankle or lower leg. About 10 -
1=
5 of our members regularly take part in competition flying, and a number
of=
them have been national champion in various classes or undertaken record
a=
ttempts (some of them with Steve Fossett, who also didn't die in a
glider).

Certainly there is danger, but it's not like, say, motorcycling or
bicyclin=
g. I've lost a number of friends in both those.

I guess the problem with statistical measures is that glider pilots are a
fairly small population so that it is difficult to judge the reality of the
risk to an individual- maybe a statistician could help!

I have been flying for just under 40 years and I guess I know a few hundred
pilots by name. In that time two people I know personally have had to jump
(with 'chutes!) and survived - one mid air, one structural failure. One
person I know was struck by lightning and landed (his LS4 was a write-off)
and another good friend was killed in a mid-air where he was too injured to
jump.

When I started flying we did'nt bother with chutes for instructional
flying, now they are always used, partly I suspect as the modern 'glass
two seaters have seats which work better when you are wearing a parachute.


So I guess comes down to how you assess the risks and what the downsides
are.

(PS I also ride horses and drive motorcycles - both more dangerous IMHO
than flying !

At 11:09 18 March 2015, Bruce Hoult wrote:

It is even safer to stay on the ground.

But marginal increases in safety do not automatically trump all other
facto=
rs such as convenience, cost, excitement, and the satisfaction of
mastering=
skills. They have to be weighed up carefully, bearing in mind that no
matt=
er how careful we are we won't be here more than about 80 years on
average
=
.... and never more than about 110.

I've been a member of the same gliding club for 29 years now. It has
genera=
lly had 80 - 100 members. During that time no one has died flying a
glider.=
I'm pretty sure no one has used their parachute either. Several gliders
ha=
ve been written off, and one guy broke his ankle or lower leg. About 10 -
1=
5 of our members regularly take part in competition flying, and a number
of=
them have been national champion in various classes or undertaken record
a=
ttempts (some of them with Steve Fossett, who also didn't die in a
glider).

Certainly there is danger, but it's not like, say, motorcycling or
bicyclin=
g. I've lost a number of friends in both those.