Many moons ago when I was a flight mechanic in the USCG I operated on the “Grey hair and balls philosophy” I figured if the pilots had some Grey hair that meant experience and if they had the balls to fly it I would get in and fly with them.
Some time later I was offered a direct commission in the USCG as an engineering officer with the opportunity to attend flight school. I would have been involved with the introduction and maintenance of the HUS-1G (HH-34). For personal reasons I turned the offer down. Almost every one on that program was either killed or injured in the crashes of the helicopter. My next opportunity was a direct commission in the North Carolina National Guard and direct entry into flight school. That would have lead directly to Vietnam. I turned that offer down as well.
But the thing that makes me a reluctant passenger in anything that flies was my involvement with helicopters and fixed wing aircraft as a tech rep and mainly in my 35 year involvement as a Reliability, Maintainability and Systems Safety Engineer on helicopters, commercial aircraft and ships. What I saw relative to the manufacturer willingness to overlook flaws in their respective systems in order to cut costs or save time made me ill.
Then there are manufacturing errors and the errors of the mechanics maintaining the systems.
Couple all this together and you get systems that are not nearly as safe and reliable as the manufacturers and operators claim.
Even though I am reluctant to fly I still have the greatest respect for the guys that do.
