matthew_w100 wrote:If I'm confronting the threats and continually asking myself how to make it safer - well the only true answer is "don't go". I don't NEED to go, and that is clearly the only guaranteed way of overcoming the threats. And, sadly, increasingly that is the path that I take.
It's unfortunate that you feel this way but perhaps you've slightly misunderstood the concept. Whilst striving to increase safety by reducing risk is a part of it, I believe that the broader spirit of TEM is to attempt to anticipate foreseeable problems and take some sort of action to prevent what you've identified as being a possible undesirable outcome from happening.
It can be as simple as thinking to yourself 'I'm taking off from an airfield which is underneath a CTA. The threat is that I could inadvertently climb into it. To prevent this, I'm going to double check that I've got the correct QNH set and level off 200 feet below the base of the CTA, which will be an altitude of XXXX feet. I might also climb at a slightly higher speed in order to reduce my rate of climb.'
This would be effective TEM - it doesn't have to be complicated and take the joy out of flying. You probably do these things anyway and call it something else.