On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 20:40:32 UTC, Gary wrote:

: I agree that the biggest risk most people take every day is driving.

Doesn't come close to smoking ... though I grant you that's not most
people any more.

About 3000 people in the UK die in road accidents each year. Assuming
that almost all the population uses roads in some way, that;s 3000 out
of 60 million, which is 1 in 20000. Of the 5000 or so glider pilopts
in the UK, about 5 die flying annually which gives a death rate per
annum of 1 in 1000.

However ...

1) A significant number of the gliding deaths occur for natural
reasons. The medical requirements are less onerous than for power
flying and pilots with conditions which disbar them from power may
choose gliding instead. This means gliding is safer than the
comparison above might suggest

2) Most glider pilots spend much less time in the air (around 20 hours
per annum on average) than road users spend on roads (average mileage
is 10000 or so, which at 50 mph is 200 hours). This means glding is
more dangerous than the comparison above might suggest.

I don't see any point in pretending that flying, sailing and so on are
"safe" activities. For a start, there is no such thing as a "safe"
activity, and these hobbies are without doubt much more dangerous
than, say, rambling or golf. However ...

1) That still doesn't mean they are particularly dangerous

2) The odds can be improved greatly by not being plain bloody stupid.
The British Gliding Association publishes accident reports, and from
those it's quite clear that "being plain bloody stupid" is the
principal cause of most accidents.

3) What the hell. You're a long time looking at the lid.

Ian
--