Weighing The Risks
From FBwiki
Written by Chris Biro, all rights reserved.
A freeflight list member asked: "Would you agree there is always a risk factor when flying outdoors? I have some difficulty understanding why you think at liberty flight is more risky? I guess you mean because of the "Long" time exposed being outside?"
Interesting point. I do not consider at liberty flying for a trained bird to be as dangerous as the time a new flyer is still in training. By that I mean, the risk per hour, is highest by a long shot for the bird that is still in training. And depending on how long this training process takes largely determines how risky the entire "being trained" event was. Also contributing to this is the aptitude of the bird and trainer. Of course once a bird is trained and is successfully flying outdoors and is no longer at risk of being lost, there still is the risk of predation or unexpected injury. These are present during training also and to some degree at an increased threat level due to lower skill levels. But once the bird is flying on a regular basis, the exposure to this lower threat is repeated far more often. So on any given day of flying, the threat is always about the same for the experienced flyers. And statistically if we look at risk by the hour, the risk is very very low. But if we look at the risk by the year, the risk appears much higher. These birds have flown without incident for thousands and thousands of hours so when an incident does occur it is a very rare occasion. However, if we look at the risks based on how many birds have been flown and how many of those have suffered incidents, then the risk looks much higher.
There are two components to risk assessment 1) the danger level, 2) the likeliness level. Driving a car is well known dangerous, to the point of thousands of people die in car accidents every year. But the risk level per mile is quite low because the likeliness of a serious accident is low per mile, thus we all tend to jump in the car without much thought to the dangers that go with doing so. Freeflying a parrot outdoors is similar in this respect. Once the bird is trained, the likeliness of a serious accident or predation attack is fairly small on any given day. But like with driving a car, such accidents have happened and probably will at some point happen again. So it is important to take these potential dangers very seriously and do what is possible to reduce the elements of risk that we have some control over.
It is important for people to remember that the risks are there and training can only mitigate so many of them. There will always be inherent risks to flying, be it indoors or outdoors. But no doubt the more frequent the exposure to the risky conditions, the greater the chance of having an incident.
I consider my guys to have been hugely successful flyers. They have flown thousands of hours in amazing environments. And if we look at the number of incidents compared to the amount of time flying it is a very tiny percentage. And I fly more birds compared to most people. But at the same time, I have had my share of heart breaking accidents.
For some any accident or loss is unacceptable, regardless of how many hours or years of success there were. Each of us must come to terms with this risk vs benefit issue.
Chris Biro chrisbiro@whidbey.net (206) 618-2610
