You can stop the poll at question one, because it need go no further. How many have needlessly died when they failed to manage risk well? Therein lies the point...how many died because they were willing to accept risk, and made the decision to engage in the foolhardy and dangerous practice of risk managment rather than risk elimination?
Question one implies an acceptance of risk in the first place, and entirely belies the concept of risk elimination...which is a state of mind, an active process, and a way of life.
I do not believe you have eliminated risk by flying a turbine single vs. a piston. Not because it's turbine or piston, but because you believe in accepting risk. Your black jacket had nothing to do with anything, nor does that powerplant. It's your risk. You accept risk, you believe in accepting risk, you are blinded to any other alternative, and you state that you feel you are in the right.
Someone else, who might be a little more open minded and safety conscious, might elimiante risks by wearing that reflective jacket. Or not walking down the street. Or by taking a cab. Or choosing a different street. Or carrying a flashlight. Or looking in all directions frequently. Or by keeping one's self away from the street, with a barrier between the street and the pedestrian. Or by merely constantly asking one's self, second by second, what might become a risk, and finding a way to eliminate it immediately.
That man ahead is unknown to me. He's a hazard. The street is dark. I might walk down there, or I might not. If I walk down there, that hazard becomes a risk. I will choose a different route. I will hold my concealed firearm in my hand beneath my jacket. I will carry a flashlight. I will cross the street to walk in a better lighted area. I will choose another route. I will stop at this house and ask to use the telephone to call a taxi. I will do something. I will not accept risk. This is the process, and it's up to you to choose or reject it.
You have not eliminated risk by flying your turbine powered airplane. You're not interested in eliminating risk. You embrace it, caress it, manage it, marry it. You're like so many other lemmings who perch, looking down at the sea, and cry out that eliminating risk is impossible, so why try?
Wear your dark jacket at night while flying your single engine airplane IMC if it makes you feel better...the risks you face are ones you choose and embrace, else you'd eliminate them rather than manage them, or take the fatalistic attitude that risk cannot be avoided. It can, you cannot see it or admit it, and without that, you are consigned to the fate you choose.
