I hope I have misunderstood this sentence:
I will make one comment – DO NOT _UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES_ THINK THAT
THIS CANNOT HAPPEN TO YOU. The history of gliding is full of reports of
EXPERT pilots who fucked-up and ended up very dead! BEWARE, and be
aware. (Gary Stevenson)

If this could happen to anyone, this would be a dangerous sport. I would
stop immediately If I had the feeling crashes could happen to me. I know
one day I will land with the wheel up as that is something which can
happen to anyone, not crashing into powerlines because too much headwind.

Aren't these incidents a combination of things? Like a bad landing
starts with a downwind.

Judging Gary's story I believe the pilot made the wrong decision.
I don't think these flights should be awarded.
Lucky he is not injured.

Grietje

On 24/10/2014 10:50 am, DMcD wrote:
> There's an interesting if tangential article by glider pilot and
> cryptographer Martin Hellmann who helped re-invent public key
> cryptography (some time after it was invented at GCHQ by James Ellis).
> In this he states:
>
>>> While most experienced glider pilots sometimes do low passes (and some race 
>>> finishes require them), I've opted not to because I regard them as a 99.9% 
>>> safe maneuver – which is not as safe as it sounds. A 99.9% safe maneuver is 
>>> one you can execute safely 999 times out of a thousand, but one time in a 
>>> thousand it can kill you.
>>> Even though they are clearly equivalent, one chance in a thousand of dying 
>>> sounds a lot riskier than 99.9% safe. The perspective gets worse when it's 
>>> recognized that the fatality rate is one in a thousand per execution of the 
>>> maneuver. If a pilot does a 99.9% safe maneuver 100 times, he stands 
>>> roughly a 10% chance of being killed. Worse, the fear that he feels the 
>>> first few times dissipates as he gains confidence in his skill. But that 
>>> confidence is really complacency, which pilots know is our worst enemy.
> You only have to look at the statistics from the Alps in France to see
> that experience counts for little when flying near the hard stuff,
> whether it is at ground level or 12,000'. A low finish for me is at
> 1500'
>
> D
>
> _______________________________________________
> Aus-soaring mailing list
> [email protected]
> To check or change subscription details, visit:
> http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring

_______________________________________________
Aus-soaring mailing list
[email protected]
To check or change subscription details, visit:
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring

Reply via email to