Hacker News Reader

Comment by JimtheCoder | Hacker News Reader

"1: Do what TCAS is telling you to do.

2: Air Traffic Control does NOT have the final responsibility for your plane, you do."

I wonder if there is some human bias that preferences human directions/instruction over technologically manufactured ones (TCAS).

Especially when it's a stressful, fast paced situation.

View on HN

2 is very hard to keep in mind, because in a stressful situation we seem to naturally want someone "to tell us what to do".

This is one of the reasons that if you're trained in emergency situations they tell you things like "don't yell 'someone call 911' but instead point directly at someone and say 'call 911'".

Yes this definitely is a thing. Like I mentioned, there is a real desire 'to be liked' by ATC from the pilot. It happens to me, it happens to many pilots.. They give you an instruction and you want to show how quickly and efficiently you can execute it. The hardest part is when your own flying intuition tells you to not do what they're requesting, or even worse when it merely makes you question the instruction.. leaving you in a decision paralysis.

The article put it best. If the TCAS is going off then then ATC has already failed at their job.

On the contrary, EKGs are well-known to have a machine interpretation line often called the "Idiot Box".

It's ultimately a culture war of neuro-types, controllfreaks and those who yearn for irresponsibility in some underling caste vs idealistic humanists dreaming of everyone being there own company,master and commander. These characters and their constructs collided that night with two planes. How to plan and prepare for this? No, idea.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com