On plane crashes and pilot error

Last week, we had a crash that killed over 50 people up in Northeast. Authorities are still trying to piece together why that happened. As of this date, they have not established blame. They are reporting bits and pieces as they find them. The problem with that is that the media and the public take off with those bits and pieces and attempt to find the cause ahead of the authorities so designated to do so.

One item that has come out and is catching headlines in the media is AUTO-PILOT WAS ENGAGED. Another is that the aircraft was heading in the wrong direction. From that, the commentarians have made up all kinds of stories.

One story on the auto pilot is that company policy dictated that auto pilot would not be used in icing conditions. Thus, the immediate conclusion is that the pilot was at fault because he was on auto pilot, and he should not have been. Hummm. Another is that the aircraft was heading in an opposite direction from the runway heading. Hummm, again. I have some views on the hype of that.

Rules are rules, of course. But rules do not fit every situation. I look at them more as guidance, and not hard and fast. In general, the commentaries and public comment don't touch how I see that.

Who is to say that the pilot did not elect to try to stabilize the plane by using auto pilot? Maybe for some reason he could not dis-engage? Who knows? Until the investigators come up with more proof on that subject, the commentators should keep their mouths shut. The same with the direction of travel of the aircraft, which could have been controlled or not controlled.

This reminds me of English lit classes. We would be studying some piece, perhaps a poem, and the prof would say, "What do you think the author meant by that?" or sometimes, "Why did he use those words?" This always brought on frustration for me, because there was no way I could get into the mind of the author and figure out his intent of the passage. I could only do that with other evidence - perhaps a preceding or succeeding part of the piece. The same can be said about the pilot of this doomed aircraft.

The answer to all this should be left to those who are qualified to make the conclusions. That is their job. It does no good for us to draw conclusions based on incomplete information and from that build an enticing story for people to consume. To do so, we cause a lot of feelings, sometimes bad, to a lot of people who have lost most in this event. While I am sure a lot of people have a stake in knowing all that can be known, no one needs their feelings influenced by incomplete, and sometimes inappropriate, information and conclusions.

In our society we are too quick to lay blame.