I loved Numero Crunchero's post on airbags!
May I say that I came from an era prior to airbags where the aviation margins were sometimes very slim indeed. My generation of pilots had to walk through too many smouldering stinking sites and attend too many funerals to leave any element too chance. Because there was very little passive safety to save your arse if you stuffed it up.
As a result of those earlier experiences, new aviation systems have been invented and operational procedures have improved tremendously. It would now appear to the newer chaps and the uninitiated that the margins are now excessive, perhaps too commercially expensive and in any case too damn personally inconvenient!
We should reflect that on every sector we embark on is is a one-way ticket to a smoking hole, the aversion of which is ultimately left to pure and simple excellence (or otherwise) of the training and judgement of the operating crew.
Now, just exactly where were we saying that CX's training standards are too high?
I guess my job is making airbags out of windbags!