Originally Posted by
Lake1952
AA 106 thought they were taking off on 31L despite being cleared to 4L and from that point on, classic confirmation bias took over. Confirmation bias is pervasive in much of human endeavors....politics, investing, medicine and certainly aviation.
One of the most extreme examples of confirmation bias in aviation was the Comair CRJ crew at LEX. They were so certain that they were on the right runway, and they hurled down a 3000 foot unlit runway, passing the correct lit runway on the way. Tenerife was also largely due to this bias as well.
Exactly and this is supported if you listen to the exchanges between AA and TWR.