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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!hp-pcd!hpfcmt!ron
From: ron@hpfcmt.UUCP (ron)
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <10400011@hpfcmt.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 16-Jan-85 19:02:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hpfcmt.10400011
Posted: Wed Jan 16 19:02:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Jan-85 07:19:20 EST
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Nf-ID: #R:orca:-124300:hpfcmt:10400011:37777777600:1691
Nf-From: hpfcmt!ron    Jan 16 16:02:00 1985

Re: Is general aviation safe ?

This will sound really corny but........ IT'S ONLY AS SAFE AS YOU MAKE IT.

Aviation is one of the few remaining activities where the individual is still
responsible for his own destiny (and those of his trusting passengers).
We have bills in Congress and elsewhere demanding airbags in automobiles
to stop the carnage on the roads because drivers are not responsible enough
to use, and require the use of, seatbelts.  Aviation has not "progressed" to
the point yet where the individual can have the expectation of closing
his eyes and letting go of everything and filing a lawsuit afterwards if
he wasn't entirely safe.  
As other netters have also said, the sky can be very unforgiving. So, if you
are interested in the enjoyment of flying and seeing life from a slightly
different perspective you must also accept responsibility for controlling
the amount of risk you expose yourself to. You can choose to accept no risk
at all and not fly or you can choose a very high risk by climbing into your
old, unreliable clunker without instruments on a marginal VFR day to go
flying in the mountains. You choose the risk, you control the chances
and you pay the consequences.

My personal choice in this (and other activities such as motorcycling) is
to learn as much as I possibly can about the activity (subset where I am
the participant) and use all the safety equipment and training available to
me, set my limits and then enjoy knowing that I am prepared. Yes, there is
risk but some of the most satisfying experiences in life require assuming
some degree of risk. 

Ron Miller, CFI(G)
"Engine ? What engine ? They only make noise !"
(hplabs!hpfcla!ron-m)