Failure ...

I have been "quoted" by the local netkook (who can't spell) who wrote,
"Berndt sez Failure is an option".

Of course I didn't say that. Failure is not an option. Failure is a fact of
life. Almost 100 years of powered flight have shown we can't build an
aircraft that doesn't crash. We can't build a car that guarantees the safety
of its occupants in a crash. We can't build a ship that doesn't sink.
Failure is a fact of life, and we ought to be thankful that there are those
who will gladly stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before them
and risk everything. We are where we are today in aviation because somebody
pushed the flight envelope to expand our knowledge envelope. Some gave their
lives in doing so and taught us even more about aircraft safety, or metal
fatigue, or instability, or complacency, or oversight, etc.

Jon