Before the pleasure of taking off in an aerobatic aircraft, I always go through a meticulous checklist: in aviation, nothing can or should be left to chance.
And yet many aeronautical innovations were born of chance. Ever since the Montgolfier brothers’ balloon, we have had to — and still must — leave room for chance in order to discover and explore new territories, and to allow aviation to emerge and develop. Even so, avoiding failure and accidents, and mastering risk by leaving chance no room at all, has always been central to everyone in aviation, from aircraft design to the organisation of air navigation and the understanding of meteorology. To some people, simply flying in an aeroplane still seems left to the chance of beliefs, of a god or a fairy godmother who will draw lots to decide who survives a flight. We know that is not so — but we also know that zero risk does not exist in aviation, and that we must always beware of events that may happen by chance, impossible to foresee or prevent, so as to reduce every possible source of failure as far as we can.
So, does aerobatics leave room for chance? Sometimes — at least in competition, when the flying order of the competitors at a world championship is drawn by lot! But once everything has been checked… alea jacta est!