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Notes -
Funny enough, the Wright brothers almost did kill Teddy Roosevelt in 1908 when they crashed their plane in a public demonstration. Roosevelt was scheduled to be the passenger but due to last minute scheduling conflict was replaced by an Army Lieutenant who was killed in the crash.
It was the first fatal plane crash, and the first "I was almost on that plane" story as well.
https://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2014/02/02/the-worlds-first-fatal-plane-crash-could-have-killed-the-president-1908/
This is the nature of taking risks, no? You can always say in hindsight that it was a bad idea, but when you succeed it's a triumph. They can seem more or less sensible in the prior analysis, but you're only really going to know if your assumptions are correct once you try it.
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