Monday, August 29, 2011

The Deadliest Flight?

Well, I'm no crab fisherman, but according to Career Builder, my profession has the third highest fatality rate per 100,000.

  1. Fishers and related fishing workers: 116
  2. Logging workers: 91.9
  3. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers: 70.6
  4. Farmers and ranchers: 41.4
  5. Mining machine operators: 38.7
  6. Roofers: 32.4
  7. Refuse and recyclable materials collectors: 29.8
  8. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers: 21.8
  9. Industrial machinery installation, repair and maintenance workers: 20.3
  10. Police and sheriff's officers: 18.0
So how do you like that?  For every 100,000 pilots that take off, only 99,929.4 land alive.  Thus far, I've been among them, but time will get me as it got that sixth-tenth of a pilot.  That wasn't pretty.  Having said that, I don't think I'd fair any better in some of these other professions.

I could never make it number 6 as a roofer, since my two biggest fears are roofs and ladders.  At first glance I was surprised at number 7 on the list.

Who knew garbage collection was so fraught with danger?  But I suppose people throw away some volatile stuff.

Sales workers at number 8?!?  I guess some people took Death of a Salesman quite literally.

Maybe I could be a cop.  But maybe not.  The numbers say it's safer, but even with such a high mortality rate, no one is shooting at me.

I think I'll stay a pilot for a while.  It's still the best part-time, full-paying job for me.

3 comments:

Travener said...

That's very odd. It must include stunt pilots, military pilots, etc.

Either that or they've been lying the whole time they say that it's more dangerous to drive to the airport than fly to your destination.

Maple Seawright said...

Wow...stay safe. It's scary to think that people are sacrificing their lives just for work. I especially feel sorry for miners. Their jobs sap energy from the soul.

jkraus8464 said...

Note that daredevils and race car drivers are not on this list. No tightrope walkers or such. Human flies. So there are jobs for those who like the walk on the wild side, but not die trying.

The problem with pilots, is that they take others with them, a kind of people package deal.