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:shrug_n:
There are plenty of career choices that entail significant risk.
I'm not sure a test pilot is any safer than what those guys did. Or any of the various "X games" athletes. A commercial fisherman, etc.
Yet I think they all share a common theme.
The individuals have confidence in their ability to avoid the "problem" that always seems obvious after the fact.
Edit: Heck, I've worked doing inspections at nuclear power plants for 30 odd years and have gotten my share of radiation exposure in the process. I'm sure that plenty of people think I'm nuts for doing it, but I don't. For me the risk is quite quantifiable and acceptable. If I end up getting a cancer down the road, it won't change my opinion.
And for the record, the only place I've ever worked that I had the slightest concern about my life was a chemical plant. I've worked on off-shore oil platforms, Prudhoe Bay Alaska, loaded solid rocket motors for the Shuttle and Titan rockets, submarines, various air force aircraft, as well as nuclear power plants and I never had any real concern in those locations.
The difference was that the latter had the appropriate respect for the dangers involved and took the necessary precautions. Chemical plants were a little more "cowboyish".
I don't disagree, and I'm being overly harsh and somewhat unfair, since presumably the common link for real "Darwin Awards" is stupidity. These people are educated, motavated and intelligent in all likelihood. But driving under a tornado and getting tossed a half a mile? There's still some serious what was he thinking involved.
Cheers