[Tennessee_Bob]

With all due respect - the majority of the ones that are joking are aviation professionals - either now, or used to be. Even as a non-pilot, the job I did was extremely dangerous - I had a jet engine explode on me right after I walked out of the test cell - an F100-220 came apart in what is termed a "catastrophic failure." I still joke about it. We told jokes while we worked crash recovery - because you can't take it personally - after all, that was someone you knew in that smoking hole. Those of us that work in the field know that it is extremely dangerous, despite the bravado. We joke about it because we know that one day - it may be us.

[Hildy]

ok. That makes sense to me.