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So it occurred to me that given the dangers of the Drift as presented in the core rule book, I am not certain any major corporation would reasonably be expected to actually use the Drift as a method of travel. I don't have the core rule book in front of me so forgive my inexact numbers but I believe that an in-system jump carries with it a 1% chance of an encounter in the Drift. Now many people would undoubtedly carry weapons to defend themselves but let us assume for the sake of argument that 1% of all encounters end in the death of some or all members of a ships crew. I feel that this is not an unreasonable rate considering the threats presented and how the universe is portrayed. Basically 1/10,000 ships that enter the drift never make it to their destination.
Chicago O'Hare airport, the third biggest in the country, services approximately 527 outbound flights per day. This mortality rate would be the same as a plane from O'Hare going missing every 20 days. Imagine the outcry if that were to happen. 18 major crashes/year from a single airport. Would people even fly anymore? Multiply that one airport by the necessary traffic of an entire solar system and suddenly you see the problem. The odds go up drastically if you attempt a flight out-system. At 10% encounter rate in the drift you are looking at 1/1000 flights disappearing. 10 flights/day from 10 ports lose a ship every 10 days.
This is not even factoring in the number of ships intercepted by pirates and brigands in normal space. At those rates everyone who flies would know someone who never made it back just from entering FTL.
Food for thought.
