"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
"Dave" wrote

Flying is surprisingly easy. Walking the length of a foot wide
board is quite easy. Put the board between two tall buildings
and it suddenly becomes something different. Then add a couple
other tasks to do as you walk across.

Here you've touched the nub of the disagreement. You've been
comparing (I suspect) easy flying with difficult sailing, and
concluding that flying is easier (and, perhaps, overexpensive to
insure!).

In any of these 'concentration' activities, people learn the
basics. Then they extend the envelope or performance level of
those activities until they reach a limit. You've probably done
that as a sailor, with the consequences not too dire. I certainly
have. Have you done that in aviation? or were you self limited by
the possibility of catastrophe? Or trained to avoid the limits?

Most aviation accidents are ultimately pilot error but the
things that often kill pilots are not things that you can train
for.

Human error, actually, not necessarily pilot. And what usually
kills is not one error, but a combination of two or three errors
(design error, faulty maintenance, poor operational procedure)
followed by the pilot being unable to dig himself out of the hole
(metaphorically). The point is that the pilot has been trained to
survive most of these events - and not be killed by them - but
some rare combinations escape the net of preparation.

Of course, there are idiots that ignore basics and go for thrills.
But that applies to any activity, sailing included. Who are these
idiots who sail single handedly the wrong way round the world in
boats which can't be righted when they're knocked over? Or those
skiers who schuss down rock encumbered cliffs? Or flyers who do
low aerobatics over the girlfriend's house?
--
JimB
http://www.jimbaerselman.f2s.com/
for opinions comparing Greek cruising areas