To: Junior Jet Clubber
Contact me via email and i will provide you with information relative to your comments.
What you described is exactly how they prove the certification of commercial aircraft. They manipulate meaningless numbers until it can be proven that the aircraft systems meet the specified JAR and FAA requirements for safety. The 1 10-9 figure was established by the FAA and has been adopted by the CAA, LBA,DGCA and are incorporated in the JARs.
Regarding the Challenger, on the 604 they proved that some of the systems had a safety number of in excess of 1 10-12
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The Cat