ABSTRACT
Risk is the probability of an unfavorable outcome. If we consider the classic example of tossing a fair coin, each side of that coin represents an equally likely event. Hence, the risk of such a coin not landing on its "head" or "tail" is 50 %. In the aviation industry, risk could be expressed in terms of number of accidents per x-number of flight hours. The lower the number of accidents per x-number of flight hours, the lower the probability of accidents. Therefore, in ideal terms, the safest activity would have a zero probability of accidents. In reality, however, safety is dynamic as well as relative because it is the probability of an accident that is acceptable to a given society. In other words, as long as a society perceives the benefits of a certain activity to be greater than the risk of failure in that activity, that activity will be considered "safe" in that society. As that society learns
moreabouttheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofthatactivityorthemeans tominimizetherisks,itwillredefinetheacceptablelevelofrisk,and consequently"safety".
