# Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 12, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478 "2009-10-12T02:18:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/1 "2009-10-12T02:18:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect. I don’t think there’s a pilot who hasn’t heard that quote. But who said it? It’s always ‘Anonymous’. I was going to post that in General Questions, but I googled it first. One page I found says that the originator was Captain A. G. Lamplugh, British Aviation Insurance Group, London, in the early-1930s. The person who posted that information said he’d been in touch with R. E. G. Davis, curator of air transport history at the Smithsonian Institution. Googling part of the quote and ‘Lamplugh’ turns up a couple of (unreferenced) articles that agree. (Well, they would since I searched on the name.) Just thought I’d share. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/2 "2009-10-13T09:26:54Z")
Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. It’s only when you stop aviating and the ground comes up to smack you in the face that’s dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/3 "2009-10-13T09:59:07Z")
Air transportation, Volume 8; Volume 10 (1932), page 28. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/4 "2009-10-13T10:09:13Z")
> [@Billdo](#): > > Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. It’s only when you stop aviating and the ground comes up to smack you in the face that’s dangerous. Yes, it’s the landing, always the landing, and in particular, how abruptly you do it. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/5 "2009-10-13T16:40:28Z")
See, the trick is to throw yourself at the ground… and miss. Pretty dangerous before you get that concept, and while practicing. But once you have it, no sweat. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/6 "2009-10-13T16:44:59Z")
That would explain my problem as a student with flaring too high. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/7 "2009-10-13T16:59:53Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > That would explain my problem as a student with flaring too high. Outside the cockpit, I always try to have just a little flare. It makes me look quite devonaire. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/8 "2009-10-13T17:00:17Z")
I always thought the trick was to crash _gently_, in a slow and gradual manner, so as not to damage oneself or anything else. Of course, if an indelicate crash becomes unavoidable one should endeavor to hit the softest, least expensive object(s) available. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/9 "2009-10-13T17:03:45Z")
don’t neglect midair collisions as a hazard. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/10 "2009-10-13T18:19:57Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Of course, if an indelicate crash becomes unavoidable one should endeavor to hit the softest, least expensive object(s) available. What’s that other saying? ‘It is better to hit a far thing slow, than a near thing fast.’ Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/11 "2009-10-13T19:17:30Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:4, topic:513478”] Yes, it’s the landing, always the landing, and in particular, how abruptly you do it. [/QUOTE] Or, as I heard during a flight safety lecture: > [@](#): > > Most accidents happen when the aircraft impacts the ground. After all, the air is pretty soft… except for the hard parts we call ‘birds’. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/12 "2009-10-13T20:09:48Z")
Hours and hours of mind-numbing boredom punctuated by seconds of sheer terror. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/13 "2009-10-13T20:37:00Z")
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Any landing whereby you can use the airplane again is an excellent landing. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/14 "2009-10-14T23:31:41Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Any landing whereby you can use the airplane again is an excellent landing. I use that one with my students. I finish it with: “And you’ll know you’ve landed gear up if it takes full power to taxi.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aviation-in-itself-is-not-inherently-dangerous/513478/15 "2009-10-14T23:35:43Z")
Speaking of landings, when I was first learning to fly we were shooting touch-and-goes. After one landing my instructor said he’d take over to demonstrate what he wanted. After we got airborne I asked him (genuinely curious), ‘Is there a reason we took off with full (40º) flaps?’ He’d forgotten to raise them. 😛