You are still more likely to be killed in a car accident on the way to the airport to ride in a warbird than actually flying in one.
Excellent point Gary, and completely true! I realize that many aviation enthusiasts have a love for these old planes (myself included) and that flying in one is truly an experience of a lifetime. I myself have had the chance to fly in 2 vintage aircraft: a 20’s era Waco biplane (one of the best experiences in my life) and a 50’s era Beaver float plane. interestingly, the Waco biplane was involved in an accident a couple years after my wife and I flew on it. No one was injured, but still an accident.
My personal feelings are that there aren’t many of these planes left and with each accident, we loose another piece of history that is gone forever. I suppose there will always be enough in static displays at museums but I hate to see them go and feel very bad that people sometimes loose their lives. Every day each of us take risks, it is up to each of us to justify if the personal risks are worth it. I for one take risks in my job each year going to sea on research and commercial fishing vessels. It is part of my job and I train yearly to keep my life saving skills up to par but there is certainly a chance that an accident could happen. I hope it doesn’t.
Just want to point out something that I disagree with though, since I deal with the media a fair bit in my job. “Since 1982, the National Transportation Safety Board has investigated 21 accidents involving World War II-era bombers. They resulted in 23 deaths.” This is a statistic, not “fake news”. Should we still be flying 70 year old aircraft? It is a valid point and that is what the article is putting out there for discussion. In any accident we as humans, try to determine what we can do to mitigate any further accidents. The fact is though these aircraft are old, require stringent maintenance, were designed for war, not to carry passengers, and someday the maintenance and requirements to keep them flying just won’t be possible. Articles like this tend to invoke a lot of passion from people on both sides, but it is up to the reader to be critical of the articles source and determine what are the facts from the opinions and the motivation of the article. Certainly do your own research too, reporters do get things wrong from time to time.
In the end, I hope they do keep them flying as long as they can. For me personally though, the experience at this point in my life would not be worth the risk.
and yes, Salute to the CMS James M. Traficante for his heroism. :salute