4 Comments
User's avatar
Maria's avatar

Hi Jeff,

I also watched the Mentour Pilot episode and something I found interesting, which I had never heard before, was the two courtesy calls. Perhaps you didn’t mention these because they aren’t very significant, but they do give us some insight into the pilot’s state of mind. I’m curious if these courtesy calls were routine for this pilot or out of the normal? The fact that he made 2 separate calls only 7 minutes apart… there are many possible scenarios, one of which being that maybe he was under duress. When coupled with the informal Goodnight sign off, it’s just another head scratcher that I was hoping you would weigh in on. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Jeff Wise's avatar

Hey Maria,

One of the reasons that in this podcast we try to look at the issues from as wide a variety of viewpoints as possible is that if you look at the evidence from a single perspective -- for instance, as a cockpit -- you'll tend to place disproportionate importance on things that are familiar or make sense to you, and overlook things outside your area of speciality. In this case, Mentour Pilot is a very experienced captain, so he pays great attention to things that he's familiar with, like calls to ATC, to a degree that's out of proportion than either their probative value or their likely significance. In short, while the calls may be unusual to a greater or lesser degree, it's impossible to ascribe particular meaning to them--which is why, as you suggest, we haven't dwelled on it in this podcast.

Expand full comment
Keelie's avatar

Just listened to the latest episode, well done on flying solo - pun not intended. I see what you did there - rabbit hole, magician's rabbit ;)

FYI, on Apple Podcasts Episode 28 appears twice with one title How To Make A Plane Vanish, and the other How To Make A Plane Disappear.

For what it's worth, when I hear RG speak and see what he's written about you, I WhiSPeR to myself: Kim Philby. Is he one of those magician's assistants? As you probably know, Uni of Liverpool are investigating and expanding the WSPR research so that will take a while. I wonder if they'll looking into the model used to determine North/South probability?

Expand full comment
Jeff Wise's avatar

Thanks Keelie! I think the Liverpool study is actually just Godfrey's collaborator, I don't know how he got roped into this. Doesn't seem like anyone else is buying into the WSPR idea. I'm frankly baffled that it's gotten any traction at all.

Expand full comment