How dangerous is soaring?

Hi Nyal

Life assurance and Retirement annuities with death or disability cover. And yes
I did ask them in writing if they covered me while flying and racing sailplanes,
and the answer was in the affirmative, with no change to my premiums.

I suppose we don't have a particularly litigious society here.

My medical insurance has a small weighting for active participation in sports.

Bruce

Nyal Williams wrote:
Yep, I've been told to go to the airport on more than
one occasion!

Are you speaking of life insurance or medical insurance?
I've not bought insurance since 1970 and I don't know
the 'drill.' I did run a drill into my thumbnail building
a set of flaps for a Capella about six or seven years
ago.


At 18:54 04 November 2007, Bruce wrote:
Hi Nyal

Entirely agree on the addictions side.

On the other hand I must take issue with the theory
that soaring is disruptive
of family life. Apparently , since I took up soaring
seriously, as opposed to
the occasional flight, I am a much better person to
be around. My general mood
is better, and family life is smoother. Should I neglect
to go flying on more
than one weekend in a row, I am reminded pointedly
that my soaring is suffering
neglect...

My 13 year old daughter is an air scout, and loves
to be involved occasionally
as does my son. Can't do it too often at present, because
they can get bored
easily, and there was a lack of nice two seaters to
fly them in. I want to fly
XC, the club crates are , well CRATES. So I was forced
to order a two seater.

According to my insurance company, soaring is less
dangerous than being a hobby
handyman. They load your premium if you use power tools
in your garage, but not
if you admit to flying gliders. Maybe I got lucky,
but one assumes the quants
have checked the risks. My guess is that - while active
soaring is a higher
risk,than being sedentary, the skills of observation
and situational awareness,
and self assessment learned all lower risk in other
activities. Overall the
insurers see no material change in risk for an active
glider pilot. It would be
fascinating to discover why a hand drill is more likely
to cause an insurance
loss. Anyone involved in the actuarial side?

Bruce

Nyal Williams wrote:
No one has addressed the real danger of soaring; its
addictive properties.

I've never tried cocaine or crack or any sort of drugs,
but I know it is more addictive than tobacco, caffeine,
colas, or sugaars (all of which I have abandoned and
am free from), and that it is disruptive to work,
careers,
families, and every sort of productive endeavor.
Who
cares?! Can't and won't quit.

At 18:18 04 November 2007, Mike The Strike wrote:
Years ago, I remember reading of accident and fatality
figures for
occupational hazards in Great Britain. At the time,
professional jump
jockeys were top of the list, with flat race jockeys
not far behind.
Both were ahead of deep-sea fishermen. The advent
of North Sea oil
rigs put some of their workers at the top (divers,
as I recall).

I don't recall any piloting professions anywhere near
the top of the
list.

My conclusion - horses are dangerous and aircraft
much
less so.

Mike

John Smith wrote:
Martin Gregorie wrote:

The only policy I've seen that excludes gliding is travel insurance.
It lumped gliding in with rock climbing and skiing.

To me, it seems perfectly reasonable to lump gliding in with rock
climbing and skiing.

I'd have thought it was a very different actuarial proposition: ski
insurance pays out on lots of lesser broken bits but relatively few
skiers bite the big one. But then, what do I know about selling insurance?


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

a. In the UK where I fly, gliding fatalities are
on average around 2.5 per annum out of 5,000 pilots,
so my 'statistical' risk is around 1 in 2,000 of dying
through gliding each year.

Lifetable analysis suggests that your risk of dying
from any cause is between 2-10/10,000 per year between
ages 15-40; is between 1/1000 - 1/100 per year between
ages 40-60; is between 1/100 - 1/10 per year between
ages 60-80 years.

So a risk of 1/2,000 may double your (small) risk of
dying if you are aged under 40 years, but is likely
to have minimal overall impact on your risk of dying
if you are aged over 40 years. (assuming adherence
to safe gliding practices).

Smoking cigarettes or being obese tend to shorten life
expectancy by 5-20 years, which are each equivalent
to more than doubling one's risk of dying. So if you
dont smoke and can fit in your glider, you probably
have a significantly longer life expectancy than the
non-gliding, fat smoker.

If you are a glider pilot who smokes, then it may be
better to give up smoking rather than gliding.

Rory

ps: If you lose too much weight, put some lead in the
nose.