Perpetual Students

Everyone has an idea of what the word “risk” means. But connecting its definition with a real-world event is like nailing jelly to the wall, as Teddy Roosevelt once famously said. One man’s idea of acceptable risk is another’s sweat-soaked nightmare. It has always been that way and, the truth is, it will probably always be that way.

One of the things we do in Aviation Safety is to illuminate the varying perceptions of what people call “risky.” For example, a few readers expressed dismay that we would advocate intentionally overloading an airplane. We didn’t. What we did say is, “Putting more stuff aboard than the airplane can legally carry happens more than anyone likes to admit. As long...