jungle

Top 10 Causes of Death - Male

Diseases of Heart 28.4% [1st for females]
Malignant Neoplasms (cancer) 24.1% [2nd for females]
Accidents 5.8% [7th for females]
Motor Vehicle Traffic Accidents (43%)
Poisoning (17%)
Fall (12%)
Cerebrovascular Diseases 5.2% [3rd for females]
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases 5.1% [4th for females]
Diabetes Mellitus 2.9% [6th for females]
Influenza and Pneumonia 2.4% [8th for females]
Suicide 2.1% [17th for females]
Nephritis, Nephrotic Syndrome and Nephrosis (kidney diseases) 1.6% [9th for females]
Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis1.5% [12th for females]
All Others 21.0%

Just think, if you don't kill yourself in some damnfool way, one of these will eventually get you. May as well have a little fun while you wait, nobody gets out alive.
Safety is mostly an illusion, not that I want to hurry things along, but the merits of finding the end at a ripe old age in a hospital are highly over rated.

slinger

What a goofy thread...do what you want...

rickair7777

I have a small child who arrived later than we planned...my intent is to do everything I can to be around for said child for as long as possible, even at the expense of not having quite as much fun as maybe I would otherwise, and not eating as many cheeseburgers.

jungle

I think we all want to live as long as possible and driving is likely the most dangerous thing we do on a regular basis. Except those kids that grow up to be BASE jumping junkies.

Cubdriver

Last year I was laid off for a bit and had some free time on my hands so I asked a veteran GA instructor in Wichita if I could hang out in the back seat of his Apache while he instructed. As it turned out I did this for several months and watched him teach quite a few pilots, usually men transitioning from the military to the airlines. What I discovered was surprising- there was no obvious correlation between airframe history, total time in flying, and skill flying this simple Apache. A fighter pilot did some of the worst flying I have ever seen, while a newbie from a third world country did some of the finest flying of all. The conclusion I came to was that seriousness is the most crucial factor. Total flying time and fancy flying history did nothing to predict who is the most skilled and who was the most dangerous in this particular GA airplane.

jungle

Motivation is always key. The newbie was having the exciting adventure of a lifetime, the fighter pilot was being forced to pay to check a box that was both an archaic relic of a system that should have handed him the qual anyway and a ride in a curious and uninteresting antique he would probably never see again.

The fighter guy could get by in the newbs world with just a few days of light instruction, the newb would have been killed immediately with just a few days in the fighter pilots world.

USMCFLYR

The GA CFI in San Diego whom I flew with few times after getting out of the military had quite a different few with his students. He said that his post- military pilots were some of his best students. They handled pressure (simulated emergencies for example) and transitioned their use of checklists from one aircraft to another with ease. They were teachable and eager to learn unlike many of his other students. Their airsense (along with common sense) and general SA were well above par he would say. They only had to learn new sight pictures or a new feel for the airplane. I had my own challenges transitioning from one type of flying that I had done for 20 years to a totally different type of flying in a fairly short time. I'm sure that if you were sitting in the back of his Bonanza the first time that I tried to flare it on landing after flying AOA landings for so long that you would have thought I wasn't actually a pilot at all, but I've actually managed to squeak a few on after some practice now

I have known active and post military pilots to have been killed in GA accidents. What they usually do is a good sense of risk management, and if they put their training to use - they will probably do a pretty good job of not painting themselves into a corner. But GA flying can be dangerous if risk is not managed correctly or if complacency creeps into the equation.

As far as the OP's contention that we all stop doing whatever type of recreational behavior that might involve some risk; well if that is his approach to life then best of luck to him.

USMCFLYR

throttleweenie

Having flown as an airline pilot for 25 years, part of that as a check airman; as a flight engineer, first officer and captain, I think that....

Sorry boys and girls but background doesn't mean a whole lot. Some of the best pilots were military, and GA, and every possible backgrounds, and so were some of the worst.

If you're good it's because you are, not because of your background.

That isn't statistics, it's observation.

TW

Atlas Shrugged

Two of our Captains were killed last year while flying a GA in SOCAL. One of them was my instructor during initial. He was an excellent pilot and a great athlete. He left behind a young son and a wife. Very sad for sure but none of us are getting out of here alive.

The ride to the hotel is more dangerous than the 5000 mile flight......

Cubdriver

No argument from me. What matters is the end result in anything, and everything in between shall be forgotten. Paraphrasing a favorite philosopher of mine: knowledge provides the ladder to a higher understanding after which climbing, you should kick back down from beneath you.