Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
<KINDA RANT>
Just saw this on a Facebook post:
"The man in the picture below had a decision to make. Punch out and save his own life or stay with the plane and avoid houses and save several lives at the cost of his."
Can we please stop saying this when guys crash and die in airplanes?
I know we all want to believe that pilots acted bravely and heroically in their last moments prior to death. I'm sure they did, but we don't need to attribute these kinds of false-heroic acts to make that bravery and heroism true.
Unfortunately, no, that probably isn't the decision this pilot had to make -- it likely didn't cross his mind at all. In reality, someone in a situation in an aircraft so dire that they died when it impacted the dirt simply doesn't have the ability to "avoid houses" or "save innocent lives". Pilots in these situations usually don't have that amount of control over the airplane to even be capable enough to make such a decision, and even if they did, they were more likely focused on simply trying to save the aircraft in those moments. More than likely the pilot had a last-second realization that he wasn't going to be able to save himself the instant or two before he impacted the dirt, but until that point -- if they were conscious -- they were 100% focused on flying the airplane. That's what pilots do; fly the airplane...and sometimes to their own fatal detriment.
What does it say about the pilots whose crashed airplanes plowed into a house or a shopping mall or an airshow crowd? Were they cowards who were just trying to save themselves and didn't care where their flaming wreckage ended up?
No, of course it doesn't mean that. That's, however, what is implied when we say things like this. It isn't fair to either pilot, nor to the families and friends those pilots leave behind after their deaths.
None of this discussion -- either way -- takes away from these pilots' character or competence. It doesn't diminish these pilots memories in any way -- their memory is all ready magnificent without these faux-heroic attributions. In the case of Capt Kuss, it is fortunate that the aircraft didn't impact any homes, and nobody on the ground was injured...but that was chance, not a last-ditch heroic life-sacrificing act.
<RANT OFF>
Just saw this on a Facebook post:
"The man in the picture below had a decision to make. Punch out and save his own life or stay with the plane and avoid houses and save several lives at the cost of his."
Can we please stop saying this when guys crash and die in airplanes?
I know we all want to believe that pilots acted bravely and heroically in their last moments prior to death. I'm sure they did, but we don't need to attribute these kinds of false-heroic acts to make that bravery and heroism true.
Unfortunately, no, that probably isn't the decision this pilot had to make -- it likely didn't cross his mind at all. In reality, someone in a situation in an aircraft so dire that they died when it impacted the dirt simply doesn't have the ability to "avoid houses" or "save innocent lives". Pilots in these situations usually don't have that amount of control over the airplane to even be capable enough to make such a decision, and even if they did, they were more likely focused on simply trying to save the aircraft in those moments. More than likely the pilot had a last-second realization that he wasn't going to be able to save himself the instant or two before he impacted the dirt, but until that point -- if they were conscious -- they were 100% focused on flying the airplane. That's what pilots do; fly the airplane...and sometimes to their own fatal detriment.
What does it say about the pilots whose crashed airplanes plowed into a house or a shopping mall or an airshow crowd? Were they cowards who were just trying to save themselves and didn't care where their flaming wreckage ended up?
No, of course it doesn't mean that. That's, however, what is implied when we say things like this. It isn't fair to either pilot, nor to the families and friends those pilots leave behind after their deaths.
None of this discussion -- either way -- takes away from these pilots' character or competence. It doesn't diminish these pilots memories in any way -- their memory is all ready magnificent without these faux-heroic attributions. In the case of Capt Kuss, it is fortunate that the aircraft didn't impact any homes, and nobody on the ground was injured...but that was chance, not a last-ditch heroic life-sacrificing act.
<RANT OFF>
Shouldn't be that way.
