A fear I just can't push aside

MikeD said:
When your number is up, your number is up. Could happen anywhere, doing anything; and there's really nothing you can do about it. The grim reaper of life will come and take you away at a time and place of his choosing, and he does so with neither prejudice, nor favoritism.

Sometimes you're dealt a crappy hand, such that you were dead that day before you even took off, only you just didn't know it.

So why worry yourself with so much stuff thats out of your control? Go forth and enjoy.
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Very accurate.....

Besides life is just a calculated risk.... when your chips are down just keep rolling the dice and sometimes against all odds you will win.... the times that you don't is just part of life and flying. I think the sooner a person can find peace within themselves the more life they can experience and enjoy.
 
I know folks have said it, and I know it's a little morbid, but pilots get themselves killed. We, in most accidents, have caused the airplane to crash and by nature of us being attached to them, get killed in the process.

How do you fix that? You do everything you can to not kill yourself. I was once told by a boss that a healthy dose of paranoia will keep you alive in this business, and I very much think he's correct.
 
Most flight training schools and/or FBOs with flight training offer an "introduction flight". It usually lasts less than an hour, is with a flight instructor, and has a set price.

This will be a good indicator if GA flying is for you. It's a pretty fair demonstration and you'll get a good taste of small airplane operations.

--By the way for all of you guys that keep putting in your two cents worth, please remember this:

You're only getting a penny for your thoughts. That means you're losing money just by opening your mouths!
 
I, for one, think dying is a-ok. That's more of a philosophical thing than an aviation safety thing, because I don't have a choice in the matter. In any case, the prospect of physical death doesn't cause me to worry. It causes me to do things productive with the miniscule time which comprises my life, but it doesn't cause useless worry. However, I am very invested in passing this life without becoming maimed/parylzed/disfigured/a garden variety of your choice/etc. Call it vanity, but the prospect of not having full physical capacity does instill a "healthy sense of paranoia." Secondly, I don't think I couldn't live with the knowledge that I killed someone else by my own negligence. These two possibilities are what keeps me careful in the air and, even moreso, on the road.

That said... I deal with that healthy paranoia by being as sure as possible of everything involving the flight. You're going to find a lot of preventable accidents in general aviation... VFR pilots flying into IMC, inadequate preflight (too lazy for weight and balance), lax training, and lack of personal minimums dominate the fatal causes. Whenever you fly, just ask yourself if you're leaving yourself options when things go wrong. Ask yourself if you've covered all the bases. If you have done so, you will have alleviated a lot of what kills or injures. If you've done everything in your control to ensure safe flight and things still go badly, then it's called bad luck. You'll have to accept that bad luck can still kill (or worse, maim) you. If that makes you want to stay at home, then google 'Doug Wielinski'.
 
how many automobiles crash and kill people every day?

[SIZE=-1]There were nearly 6,420,000 auto accidents in the United States in 2005. The financial cost of these crashes is more than 230 Billion dollars. 2.9 million people were injured and 42,636 people killed. About 115 people die every day in vehicle crashes in the United States -- one death every 13 minutes.[/SIZE]


from car-accidents.com
 
I think it's more like 1 in 1000. Check wikipedia; it's there.

I went through the same thing in going for my PPL -- scouring statistics at night like I would after sleeping with some girl and worrying about my chances of having actually caught an STD.

I've made some mistakes. I flew into a dark gray cauliflower cloud 30 miles out over the gulf of mexico and got shaken up pretty badly.

I hesitated on a go around on a relatively small strip at night, planted and braked hard because I wasn't sure I had enough clearance at the end to go-around. I stopped in time, but it had me scared.

Read the reports and you'll see the same thing again and again with fatal crashes:

* Weather.
* Stall/Spin (Keep your airspeed up, statistics shows your odds of survival flying into the trees is higher than your odds stalling above them and spinning, nose-down, into the ground)
* Low altitude maneuvering.

Stay out of weather. Even being instrument-rated, I frequently elect a no-go. If you do have a failure, remember these things: at 70 degrees of bank, your stall speed doubles. You lose airspeed in a turn -- meaning you'll sink faster than intended if trying to make a landing spot. Slowing the plane past best-glide will not slow your decent. You'll read NTSB crash reports where the cause of the crash is listed as the pilot failing to maintain adequate airspeed and going into a stall-spin, with some major failure contributing, such as running out of gas.
 
N99999 said:
Read the reports and you'll see the same thing again and again with fatal crashes:

* Weather.
* Stall/Spin (Keep your airspeed up, statistics shows your odds of survival flying into the trees is higher than your odds stalling above them and spinning, nose-down, into the ground)
* Low altitude maneuvering.

.
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You forgot shock cooling and oversquare running.....


:D
 
N99999 said:
I think it's more like 1 in 1000. Check wikipedia; it's there.

I went through the same thing in going for my PPL -- scouring statistics at night like I would after sleeping with some girl and worrying about my chances of having actually caught an STD.
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Damn!!

How'd we get here?
 
I'm not saying GA flying is more dangerous but the car comparison is flawed. There are far far less GA flights then there are cars driving. The ratio of accidents between GA planes and cars should be compared instead of comparing just accident numbers. Probably still a lot lower though. As it's been said, don't do anything stupid and the chances of having an accident are greatly reduced.
 
MikeD said:
When your number is up, your number is up. Could happen anywhere, doing anything; and there's really nothing you can do about it. The grim reaper of life will come and take you away at a time and place of his choosing, and he does so with neither prejudice, nor favoritism.

Sometimes you're dealt a crappy hand, such that you were dead that day before you even took off, only you just didn't know it.

So why worry yourself with so much stuff thats out of your control? Go forth and enjoy.
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A great point Mike. But I wonder if there is a dualistic nature here. How do you balance "fate" with engaging in a really risky activity (I'm not talking about flying per say). Or even on a more subtle level....like....Hey I'll smoke, drink, etc cause when my number is up....
 
Louie1975 said:
A great point Mike. But I wonder if there is a dualistic nature here. How do you balance "fate" with engaging in a really risky activity (I'm not talking about flying per say). Or even on a more subtle level....like....Hey I'll smoke, drink, etc cause when my number is up....
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Just my opinion only, I balance it as such: Obviously, I don't partake in anything illegal, such as street racing or such....things that would probably be fun, but are going over the top and intentionally trying to "kick the devil in the ass when his back is turned". So that's out. Flying comes under just normal day-to-day ops....nothing special. Then, I don't do stuff that makes me feel yuck or is doing damage or aggravating damage to me. Smoking makes me fell yuck and isn't enjoyed, while also helping destroy my system, as does alcohol to an extent (for me). So since I classify flying as a normal, daily activity that in and of itself has risk, but isn't actively killing me each time I'm doing it; I classify it separately, just like driving.

I dont know if that makes any sense at all......
 
MikeD said:
Just my opinion only, I balance it as such: Obviously, I don't partake in anything illegal, such as street racing or such....things that would probably be fun, but are going over the top and intentionally trying to "kick the devil in the ass when his back is turned". So that's out. Flying comes under just normal day-to-day ops....nothing special. Then, I don't do stuff that makes me feel yuck or is doing damage or aggravating damage to me. Smoking makes me fell yuck and isn't enjoyed, while also helping destroy my system, as does alcohol to an extent (for me). So since I classify flying as a normal, daily activity that in and of itself has risk, but isn't actively killing me each time I'm doing it; I classify it separately, just like driving.

I dont know if that makes any sense at all......
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Good Post!
 
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