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Comment by aplummer | Hacker News Reader

Two days ago before we got on one of these planes I said to my partner “don’t worry, it’s the most scrutinized plane in history”.

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When all of that scrutiny stops finding issues, I'll not worry about it. Sadly, every time they look, they find new issues.

Yeah it's really not. Age is the only thing that will do that.

It's hard to know how much time has to elapse before all the problems have been teased out though.

Anyone who thought the DC-10 was in the clear after its cargo door problems were fixed was in for a nasty surprise a few years later when an engine fell off of one at O'Hare, but if the industry had written it off after that incident they'd have missed out on 35 years of an otherwise reliable plane.

The thing I see missing is that it’s totally normal and even justified to not want to fly on one of these planes at this point. Regardless of whether there is some period of time on the order of years after which all the bugs will be worked out, in the meantime it makes absolutely no sense to take a gamble flying on one of these, but many, especially those within aviation, insist otherwise.

The problem wasn’t finding problems, it was acknowledging them

Famous last words.

It's like sneaking a bomb on board for safety purposes. "I mean, what are the odds that there are TWO bombs on this plane?"

I wish we had an updated remake of Airplane! that uses this line. THere's so much room for good political satire but it seems like it's not being made.

I believe the above is actually a paraphrase of Jim Jefferies’s bit about the difference between Australian and American airport security actually.

The sketch in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyqBZBC3RbY

‘Satisfaction of search’ is very much a thing. In my field (I’m a radiographer), finding an abnormally is a classic reason to miss another one nearby.

To quote a cardiologist I worked with, ‘keep scanning, you can have ticks and lice’.

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/satisfaction-of-search-erro...

I notice this a lot in everyday life, with things like getting a text while heading out the door, answering it, then forgetting there were other tasks and leaving sans keys and wallet

This phenomenon was really useful for sneaking booze into football games as undergrads.

Two airplane bottles in your pocket, belt loop, etc. - somewhere obvious but not too obvious - can absolutely blind a ticket taker to the 6-8 you have taped to the back of your calves.

Guessing you're quoting Laurie Anderson.

There is a reason they are the most scrutinized.

> don’t worry, it’s the most scrutinized plane in history

That's a bad thing, not a positive one that it needs so much scrutiny.

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