THE MERCURY NEWS
PUBLISHED: July 28, 2017 at 8:00 am
Did brain phenomenon contribute to Air Canada pilot’s close-call at SFO?
SAN FRANCISCO — Could the same brain phenomenon identified as contributing to today’s polarizing political climate have played a role in an Air Canada flight crew coming within seconds of landing on a row of jets awaiting takeoff at SFO? Absolutely, experts say.
The condition, known as confirmation bias, occurs when people accept or seek out evidence that confirms their expectations and ignore or avoid facts that don’t align with their expectations. Just like when a Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton supporter tunes out an opposing viewpoint, or contrary facts.
The same mental blind spot likely impacted the Air Canada flight crew on July 7 when it nearly triggered the worst aviation disaster in history by landing on four fully-loaded planes on the SFO taxiway, says Dr. Andrew Gilbey, a senior lecturer in aviation at Massey University in New Zealand.
Sidebar:
Fisher’s experiment in 1980 for NASA had pilots land on a simulator. During one landing she secretly placed an airplane in the middle of the runway. During one phase of experiment 2 of 8 pilots didn’t see the plane.
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Did mental bias play a role in Air Canada's SFO near-miss?