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Because only 30 years ago there were no such things as storm-warning radar, instrument landing systems, approach lights, effective de-icing equipment, reversible propellors or devices to put out an engine fire in mid-air.
Because only 30 years ago, a copilot hired at 10a.m. could be flying a trip at noon with virtually no training.
Because only 30 years ago, a Newark to Los Angeles trip took almost 30 hours in a plane that cost less than one engine on a modern jet--and in an era that bragged about averaging only about 100 crashes a year.
Because only 30 years ago, flying as high as 8,000 feet was considered nudging outer space--and flying OVER the weather was just a gleam in a pilot's eye.
Because only 30 years ago, air-to-ground communications was a new-fangled device.
What was once a spectacular defiance of the unconventional has become the conventional. Pride is the only word applicable to this transition.
But pride is NOT complacency. We of the airline industry may look back on the past with pride. We may look at the present with satisfaction. But we regard the future as a challenge for accomplishment of a greater goal-- to make air travel so totally safe that it will quiet the cynics, appease the doubters, reassure the fearful.
Safety is the art of reducing risk to the lowest chance of occurrence.
This, I believe, we have done, we are doing, and will continue to do.