I'm also a bit gatvol of all the negative talk and arguments, even at work I get attacked with the "did you hear about the fatal accident........and do you still think you want to fly........etc." Gosh, everybody just reads past the "12 people died in a minibus accident..." or " 3 missing at sea" and all the other related unnatural deaths.
Since when has dying in a car accident become the norm and also generally acceptable to the public? If you make a mistake in a car, crash, burn and die it is perfectly OK with everyone, but oh no, not when there is a flying accident, oh no, we get roasted. Especially by our own kind
FF, you are right, and thank you, let's get out there and fly safely and enjoy it to the fullest. If you are in doubt, shit scared all the time and an eternal pessimist wrt flying, keep it to yourself and watch the hockey or soccer.
I'll rather have an engine out and do a forced landing in a field than have an engine out in my car in the middle of J'brg where for sure I'll get raped in the a$$, robbed and possibly murdered, or an engine out at sea on a boat and hell knows where the waves will take me.
Ladies and gents (and Morph you too)
Lets go and fly, we all know the risks and we all know the basic procedures. Let's give off positive signals wrt flying:
I came across a story dating back to 1911 about a horse named Clever Hans. Hans could apparently add, subtract, multiply and divide and solve all sorts of mathematical problems. When asked a question, Hans would tap out the appropriate number with his hoof.
While this appeared to be amazing at the time, it was actually nothing new. A number of animals had been trained to perform such tricks before but they all had to be cued by their trainers. Hans however, was different. He could run through his repertoire even when his owner was not present. In fact, he would answer questions for anyone!
Two researchers with the unlikely names of Stumpt and Pfungst set out to investigate just how Hans was able to solve mathematical equations. What they found was that if the horse could not see the questioner, he could not answer the question. Similarly if the questioner did not know the answer, the horse couldn’t answer the question either.
They observed that it was the body language of the questioner that gave Hans his cue as to when to stop tapping. This could include a forward inclination of the head or even a dilatation of the nostrils. In other words, people were giving the horse the correct answer by communicating their expectations to him via physical signals. Clever Hans was only clever when people expected him to be!
What struck me was the similarity between the story and the way that people are managed in business. If you expect good things you give off positive signals and you usually get good results!
Unfortunately the reverse is also true. If you assume the worst, you give off negative signals which people pick up on and react accordingly. The chances are that if this occurs, your assumptions will actually prove to be correct. This is known as the self-fulfilling prophesy
when did you change from Morpheus to Morph 
. These are the words attributed to King Henry V on the eve of the battle of Agincourt which was (really) fought on 28 October 1415.
