Re:Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane
by nathanstitt on Thursday February 20, 2014 @12:08PM
(#7271984)
That's a great point.
As a programmer it's also taken me quite awhile to recognize that I'm not a perfect snowflake and am quite capable of writing code that contains horrendous bugs.
I've always recognized that while flying though, because I've always felt like a neophyte at it, and not a "real" pilot.
Statistically speaking, it's pretty safe to allow your attention to wander a bit while on a long uneventful flight. That's why there are auto-pilots. The real danger comes in whenever you're close to the ground or in bad weather.
Surprisingly the #1 thing you can do to avoid an accident is just make sure you have enough fuel. Which is a very low bar to clear.
What's especially sinister to me is how long it took me to really get that. And how much my self-perceived skill is more about my ability to recover from error than my ability to avoid error in the first place. Especially when it's over time periods long enough for fear to wear off.
I'd never take up flying, because I know my attention would wander during those long periods of apparent calm but actual risk.
Regarding why aviation attracts the wrong sort of people, if you haven't read about the Dunning-Kruger effect, I think it'll ring some bells for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect