I’ve already written about the serendipity of coincidences and surprises that occur when you’re far from home.
But luck cuts both ways, and there are stories of people who’ve been dogged by repeated misfortune in their travels.
Contributors to the Quora forum recently addressed the question: “If you’ve survived a plane crash, do you have the same chance of experiencing a future plane crash in your lifetime as someone who hasn’t?”
The obvious answer is that each event is unique and the same odds apply each time. So, no matter how often you flip a coin (if you do it properly), the odds of it being a head are 50-50, even if you’ve just flipped 10 heads in a row.
As one contributor pointed out, plane crashes (thankfully) don’t have the same odds as plane crashes, but the same principle applies.
So a person who has been in a plane crash is just as likely to be in a plane crash as anybody else — which, I must stress, is not very likely at all.
But other contributors put the case that this person may actually be slightly less likely to be in another crash.
A person who has survived a crash may take more care about who they fly with — choosing bigger, safer or newer planes or airlines with better safety procedures and records.
They may also be less likely to fly when there is an alternative, meaning that they don’t expose themselves to the risk of a plane crash as often as others.
