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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.