yyz buff,
Slight misunderstanding of the syntax - I was talking about accidents and incidents - not the lucky guys who got away with pressing on in dangerous conditions - and certainly not about the "thousands or millions" who operate according to the book and with great skill in "lousy" weather, which is what we are paid to do.
Avman,
Gotcha! But let's just say the SR accident was in 1979 and ATH was still not fixed 20 years later. There are plenty of airports with hazards off the runway end ( the hill to the ex-Vauxhall car park in LTN - the sea off many coastal runways) but there are other fixeable ones too - like the stream in the gulley off 28 in ZRH etc.
It is more than annoying, that these don't get fixed.