Ive been thinking about a long topic on safety, but Im short of time so will try to hit the main points. Safety starts with a philosophy, and if a vehicle is moving danger is always there, boat, car, plane, cycle, etc. What design things or operational things put safety as prime? And what is the wrong way to think of it.
One of the great historic tragedy is the sinking of the Titanic, when the magnificent new Cunard liner hit an iceberg and 1550 people were lost. I had a classmate who had relatives on it, if you see the movie the older couple the Srauses whose wife will not leave her husband are them. With the sea being calm and the damage just barely critical they sank in 2 hours. They had left port with only 1/3 of the lifeboats needed. Why? I call this the Titanic Theory, that means, no worry, what could possibly go wrong? You can be when the Andrea Doria sank about '58 they had plenty of lifeboats for everyone, My school had a teacher who had a room on it. Ships also paid attention to wirless for pireps on dangere and have radar now etc.
How about cars, by far the way most people are lost these days? There is one simple thing you can do in a car to double survival in an accident, WEAR SEAT BELT/SHOULDER HARNESS. So simple ,so effective, still ignored. We just had two acidents here, family of 7 in an SUV on the hwy hit a bear, all ejected from the car, 3 fatal , 4 serious injuries. No one using seat belts, after all what could go wrong, how often do you hit a bear? Another SUV slides off the tricky mountain road over Independence Pass, lands upside down, severe damage but the couple had belts on and uninjured. That brings us to planes, most people wear belts, but I know of two cases personally where a friend was lost after not having them on, And a recent airline hitting severe turbulence with dozens of serious injuries with passengers who were not buckled in, After all what could go wrong? Two other big factors in private planes, always have enough fuel and reserves. and caution about low altitude acro where Ive lost many good friends.Tecnoogy like the Cirrus is another factor, not going to cover that now. If you are riding a bike you are lilely to fall and a helmet can save you. Im going to ride a motorcycle today and you bet Im going borrow my SonS race helmet.
And there is no music in this post but it is about airplanes as well as broader safety.