What makes people do completely mad things?

Peter wrote:

and they also prohibit an airfield going unlicensed during certain hours only

Are you sure that’s true? I’m certain I’ve seen info on airfield websites such as “Airfield unlicensed outside of AIP operating hours, you may only use the airport out-of-hours if your flight activity does not require a licensed airfield”. Oban’s indemnity form says as much (I mention it because I looked at it recently, so it’s fresh in the mind!), for example, so certainly in Scotland it’s not prohibited to be unlicensed during certain hours and accept movements that do not require a licensed aerodrome.

alioth wrote:

While I suspect electrical standards were better in the UK, a few decades ago you could open train doors while the train was moving in the UK too, and look up the Summerland fire in the Isle of Man for a disaster made much worse by all the fire exits being locked.

I suspect things in Eastern Slovakia are probably also changed from a few decades ago.

I can remember my poor mother fretting as a toddler that I might open the doors and fall out of British trains, and I think you might still be able to open the doors on some of the sleeper trains. Of course, we had the recent Grenfell tower disaster here. Yet, there’s still a step change in your physical security when you go from the UK or USA to the former Eastern bloc countries.

I think it has more to do with relative wealth than politics: here’s a shower in a youth hostel in San-Pedro-Sula, Honduras:

I took a cold shower, then on the way home stayed in a posh hotel where I was electrocuted by the standing lamp:

I don’t mean to put down Slovakia, Eastern Slovakia, Slovaks or for that matter Honduras down, just to point out that we are far more cosseted in the US/UK than in most other places, whatever their politics. Even in France, which I remember as being utterly carefree in my youth, I can’t carry my son on my shoulders for more than 2 paces without someone stopping and telling me to put him down because it’s too dangerous!

I saw an interesting situation at an airfield in Niederbayern earlier this week. A lot of storms were passing through the south of Germany and one passed over the field I was at. My aircraft was parked on the apron and I was planning leave shortly but delayed departure due to the storms overhead. I was in the cockpit holding the controls as the aircraft was moving all over the place with the strong wind and rain. No way would I have taken off in that situation. Lightning was all above the field and a small plane (Mooney I think), taxied out and departed. Now he was obviously OK as there was no accident but I did concern me. But they made their choice and they didn’t in the end have a problem. People have very different risk tolerances.

I think part of the reason is that on many occasions in a sense pilots get away with it. In other words they launch into conditions which could contain a whole load of nasty surprises, but, few or none actually happen. How often have we experienced something similiar? I recall many years ago somewhere west of Lyon ending up in a line of thunderstorms with lightening crashing all around, eventually turning back because I decided I must be completely stupid, but in fact there were few smoother flights and not a hint of problems. Unfortunately such experience can tempt you to do the same again .. and again.

With luck you then tempt fate once too often and find yourself in conditions that really get the pulse going, but it works out ok. That is a valuable lesson, and I am sure has happened to many of us.

Perhaps we each need to scare ourselves a little to establish where the boundaries are, and realise that JasonC was absolutely right not to launch, and the other pilots just got lucky on that occasion.

Yes, but how to scare yourself while staying on the correct side of the line? I have scared myself at least several times and learned very valuable lessons with no negative outcomes. How does that saying go, you have to fill your bucket of wisdom before your bucket full of luck runs out?

Canuck wrote:

you have to fill your bucket of wisdom before your bucket full of luck runs out?

Thats the one.

The only solution I have is to fly with someone you totally trust and who has a greater deal more experience than you.

I always recount my tale of thinking I wanted to see what ice looked like. My friend (ex RAF and all that sort of thing) said ok fly me into that CB (it was pretty small and nicely puffy). As it happened the conditions were exactly right, the screen instantly went white and the flight was reliant on instrument skills albeit momentarily – not many moments later it was gone. It was a good lesson at the time experienced in a nicely controlled and safe enviroment.

Peter – yes quite correct TCU at best, not much towering either as I recall.