WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 1>When we board a commercial flight, you know, orderagein drill

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<v Speaker 1>and just sit back. We expect absolute flawless engineering precision, right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you expect perfection exactly. I mean, it feels entirely safe,

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<v Speaker 1>completely routine. But the chilling reality for you listening right

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<v Speaker 1>now is that the invisible safety net wrapping around your

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<v Speaker 1>flight today is actually a mosaic and it's pieced together

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<v Speaker 1>from the wreckage of past disasters.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's the hard truth. Modern aviation is incredibly safe,

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<v Speaker 2>but that safety was literally written in blood. And what

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<v Speaker 2>we do as investigators is look at this diagnostic landscape,

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<v Speaker 2>but what goes wrong when human psychology, invisible atmospheric forces,

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<v Speaker 2>and highly complex machinery violently collide, Which.

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<v Speaker 1>Is exactly what we're getting into today. For this deep dive.

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<v Speaker 1>We are opening up a massive stack of incredibly detailed

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<v Speaker 1>case studies and actual cockpit flight transcripts from five catastrophic

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<v Speaker 1>commercial airline flights.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, the real source material, right, and.

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<v Speaker 1>Our mission here is to put you right inside the cockpit.

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<v Speaker 1>We want to help you out understand exactly how tiny,

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<v Speaker 1>seemingly insignificant errors can compound into massive tragedies.

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<v Speaker 2>And how these very hard lessons fundamentally rewrote the rules of.

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<v Speaker 3>The sky exactly.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, let's unpack this because we're gonna start with a

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<v Speaker 1>scenario that quite honestly sounds like it belongs in a

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<v Speaker 1>psychological thriller.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we have to start with the environment, specifically the threats.

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<v Speaker 2>The crew can't even see the invisible spell, right, and

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<v Speaker 2>in this first case, the threat with the very air

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<v Speaker 2>they were breathing. So picture August fourteenth, two thousand and five,

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<v Speaker 2>high above Athens Grease. There's a Boeing seven thirty seven.

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<v Speaker 2>This is Helio's Airways flight five twenty two, and it's

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<v Speaker 2>just circling in a holding.

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<v Speaker 3>Past, just flying in circles.

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<v Speaker 2>Completely silent on the radio. Air Traffic control is calling

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<v Speaker 2>and calling and getting nothing. That dead air. So the

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<v Speaker 2>Greek Air Force scrambles two F sixteen fighter jets to intercept.

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<v Speaker 3>Which is terrifying in itself.

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<v Speaker 1>So the F sixteen pilots they pull up alongside the

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<v Speaker 1>seven thirty seven, and they're looking right through the cockpit

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<v Speaker 1>windows and what they see is just it's bone chilling.

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<v Speaker 1>The copilot is slumped over the controls, the captain isn't

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<v Speaker 1>even in his seat, and they can see the oxygen

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<v Speaker 1>masks dangling in the passenger cabin. It's literally a ghost.

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<v Speaker 2>Plane, right. And the thing is, this wasn't a hijacking.

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<v Speaker 2>The invisible killer here was hypoxia, oxygen starvation. It's the

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<v Speaker 2>lack of air exactly. And to understand how a modern

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<v Speaker 2>airliner turns into a ghost ship, we have to look

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<v Speaker 2>back at the ground. Hours earlier in Cyprus, right, a

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<v Speaker 2>ground engineer had been running a pressurization test on the

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<v Speaker 2>rear door and to do that, he switched the plane's

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<v Speaker 2>pressurization panel. It's called the P five switch. He switched

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<v Speaker 2>it from auto to manual. When the test was over,

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<v Speaker 2>he simply forgot to switch it back.

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<v Speaker 1>Wow, one switch just left in the wrong position. So

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<v Speaker 1>the crew gets in, they miss that the switch is

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<v Speaker 1>on manual during their routine preflight checks and they take

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<v Speaker 1>off and as they climb, the plane is not pressurizing.

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<v Speaker 1>The air inside the cabin is just getting thinner and thinner,

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<v Speaker 1>and alarms start going off.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Right, at ten thousand feet, the cabin altitude warning

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<v Speaker 2>horn just blares. But here is the critical flaw in

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<v Speaker 2>the system design at the time on this specific aircraft model.

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<v Speaker 2>The alarm sound for a cabin depressurization in the air

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<v Speaker 2>is the exact same sound as the takeoff configuration warning.

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<v Speaker 3>Which is crazy to think about it.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, It's an alarm that normally only goes off when

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<v Speaker 2>the plane is still on the ground, telling the pilots

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<v Speaker 2>you know their flags aren't set right for takeoff.

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<v Speaker 1>It's like trying to solve a complex puzzle while someone

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<v Speaker 1>is just slowly unplugging your brain. I mean they are

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<v Speaker 1>in the air hearing a ground alarm exactly. They're utterly confused.

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<v Speaker 1>They're looking at their instrument panels trying to troubleshoot what

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<v Speaker 1>they think is a cooling fan issue, while their brains

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<v Speaker 1>are literally starting for oxygen.

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<v Speaker 2>And what's fascinating here is the mechanism of how hypoxia

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<v Speaker 2>tricks the mind because it is not like suffocating.

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<v Speaker 3>You don't feel it.

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<v Speaker 2>No, you don't gasp for air or feel a burning

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<v Speaker 2>in your lungs at all. As the oxygen levels drop,

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<v Speaker 2>your ears pop, and then you start to feel almost euphoric. Wow,

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<v Speaker 2>it's very total, much like having a few drinks on

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<v Speaker 2>an empty stomach. Your cognitive functions just quietly shut down.

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<v Speaker 2>The crew felt absolutely no pain. They simply lost the

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<v Speaker 2>ability to reason, tunnel vision set in, and eventually they

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<v Speaker 2>just fell asleep.

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<v Speaker 1>Man. Meanwhile, back in the passenger cabin, those oxygen masks drop,

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<v Speaker 1>but those chemical generators they only supply about what twelve

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<v Speaker 1>minutes of oxygen.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, about twelve to fifteen minutes, which.

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<v Speaker 1>Is typically just enough time for a conscious pilot to

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<v Speaker 1>dive the plane to a safer, breathable altitude. But with

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<v Speaker 1>the pilot's incapacitated, the passengers pass out too, except.

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<v Speaker 2>For one person right Andrea's promo.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, twenty five year old flight attendant who was a

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<v Speaker 1>former scuba diver and a Special Forces soldier, and he

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<v Speaker 1>actually had some pilot training.

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<v Speaker 2>Tromo had just this incredible tolerance and presence of mind.

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<v Speaker 2>Using the plane's portable oxygen bottles, he managed to stay

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<v Speaker 2>conscious for.

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<v Speaker 1>Hours hours, That's unbelievable.

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<v Speaker 2>He used the emergency keypad to unlock the cockpit door

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<v Speaker 2>inside and actually tried to take the controls. The F

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<v Speaker 2>sixteen pilot saw him in there struggling to save the aircraft,

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<v Speaker 2>but by the time he got to the captain seat,

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<v Speaker 2>which was nearly three hours into the flight, the plane

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<v Speaker 2>was completely out of fuel.

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<v Speaker 1>He even called out may Day on the radio, but

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<v Speaker 1>it was still tuned to the departure airport in Cyprus,

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<v Speaker 1>so nobody in Athens even hurt him. Flight five point

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<v Speaker 1>twenty two crashed into a hillside, killing all one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and twenty one people on board.

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<v Speaker 2>Is incredibly tragic, it really is.

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<v Speaker 1>So we just saw how a slow, subtle loss of

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<v Speaker 1>air pressure lulls the crew into a false sense of security.

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<v Speaker 1>But what happens when the atmosphere does the exact opposite,

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<v Speaker 1>when it attacks a plane with this violent, sudden force

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<v Speaker 1>that overrides everything the pilots are doing.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that takes us to Dallas Fort Worth August nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>eighty five, Delta Airlines Flight one ninety one. Right, it

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<v Speaker 2>is a sweltering one hundred and one degrees outside. This

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<v Speaker 2>highly experienced crew is on their final approach and they're

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<v Speaker 2>threading their way through these heavy anvil shape thunderstorm clouds.

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<v Speaker 2>But what they encounter isn't just a strong gust of wind.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a microburst.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, let's really visualize a microburst for a second. Imagine

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<v Speaker 1>pouring a massive bucket of water onto a flat concrete floor.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, good analogy.

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<v Speaker 1>The water doesn't just hit the ground and stay there

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<v Speaker 1>right it violently splashes outward in a perfect three hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and sixty degree circle. A microburst is a massive column

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<v Speaker 1>of cold, dense air doing exactly that. It drops out

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<v Speaker 1>of a storm cloud, hits the ground, and splashes outward

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<v Speaker 1>at incredible speeds. And when a plane flies through that splash,

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<v Speaker 1>it creates a completely deadly sequence of aerodynamic events.

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<v Speaker 2>It creates a forty seven second fight for survival.

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<v Speaker 3>Forty seven seconds.

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<v Speaker 2>That's all it was. First, the plane hits the outflow

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<v Speaker 2>coming toward them, which acts as a massive headwind. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>this actually increases the relative airflow over the wings, creating

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<v Speaker 2>sudden lift. So the plane balloons upward.

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<v Speaker 3>Okay, so it gets pushed up.

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<v Speaker 2>Exactly, and the natural pilot reaction there is that push

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<v Speaker 2>the nose down and pull back the throttles to reduce

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<v Speaker 2>speed and stay on the proper glide path to the runway.

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<v Speaker 1>But just seconds later, because they're flying through it, they

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<v Speaker 1>hit the center of the microburst, which is the violent downdraft,

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<v Speaker 1>and it literally shoves the plane toward the ground.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, and as they exit the other side of that

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<v Speaker 2>down draft, the trap closes completely. The tailwind right the

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<v Speaker 2>wind shifts to a massive tailwind, so now the wind

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<v Speaker 2>is moving in the exact same direction as the plane.

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<v Speaker 2>The relative airflow over the wings drops to almost nothing,

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<v Speaker 2>and the lift simply vanishes. The plane is now just

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred and fifty meters off the ground, essentially falling

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<v Speaker 2>out of the sky.

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<v Speaker 1>And normally pilots have a defense mechanism for losing lyft, right,

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<v Speaker 1>they trade altitude for air speed. If you lose lyft,

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<v Speaker 1>you point the nose down, you dive to pick up speed,

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<v Speaker 1>and you regain that necessary airflow over the wings.

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<v Speaker 2>But one hundred and fifty meters there is no altitude

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<v Speaker 2>left to trade.

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<v Speaker 1>You're too close to the ground exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>Their only option was raw engine power. The crew slammed

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<v Speaker 2>the throttles to maximum fighting this fierce cross wind that

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<v Speaker 2>rolled the plane violently.

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<v Speaker 3>And they almost made air.

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<v Speaker 2>They almost did, but the microburst was just too massive.

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<v Speaker 2>The plane slammed into a highway, killing one hundred and

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<v Speaker 2>thirty seven people. And the thing is, conventional weather radar

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<v Speaker 2>at the time couldn't detect this.

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<v Speaker 3>It just saw rain, So they were flying completely blind

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<v Speaker 3>into a trap.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and that crash was the tipping point for the industry.

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<v Speaker 2>It forced the FAA and NASA to completely revolutionize how

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<v Speaker 2>we detect wind shear. They developed terminal Doppler weather radar

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<v Speaker 2>for airports, which actually bounces radio waves off microscopic dust

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<v Speaker 2>and water particles in the air to measure wind speed

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<v Speaker 2>and direction, not just precipitation. And more importantly, they developed

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<v Speaker 2>forward looking Doppler radar mounted right on the nose of

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<v Speaker 2>commercial jets. NASA literally flew a seven thirty seven into

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<v Speaker 2>the worst microburst they could find just to test these systems.

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<v Speaker 1>Out, because giving a crew just fifteen or twenty seconds

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<v Speaker 1>of advanced warning, just enough time to throttle up and

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<v Speaker 1>gain speed before they hit the bad air, is literally

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<v Speaker 1>the difference between life and death. Absolutely, So we've seen

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<v Speaker 1>how the external environment can steal control. But often the

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<v Speaker 1>most dangerous element in the cockpit isn't the air outside.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the human mind's reaction to distraction inside.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we call it task saturation.

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<v Speaker 3>Task saturation.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, Let's look at New Year's Day two thousand and seven,

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<v Speaker 2>ATOM air Flight five seventy four, which was a budget

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<v Speaker 2>airline flying over Indonesia. They get caught in the severe storm,

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<v Speaker 2>But the primary problem isn't actually the weather. It's a

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<v Speaker 2>broken navigation system. The inertial Reference system or IRS, and

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<v Speaker 2>the IRS is the vital piece of equipment that tells

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<v Speaker 2>the autopilot exactly where the plane is in three dimensional space.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, and from the transcripts, this unit had been malfunctioning

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<v Speaker 1>for months. The airline was just slapping band aids on it.

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<v Speaker 2>So mid flight, the pilots realize they are miles off

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<v Speaker 2>course over the ocean, surrounded by a violent storm, and

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<v Speaker 2>they get entirely fixated on fixing this one computer glitch.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the captain decides to switch the navigation computer into

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<v Speaker 1>what's called attitude mode. Now, in aviation, attitude refers to

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<v Speaker 1>the plane's orientation, it's pitch and roll relative to the horizon. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>switching to this mode is a way to try and

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<v Speaker 1>reset the system's baseline. But what the captain fails to

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<v Speaker 1>realize is that select in this mode physically forces the

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<v Speaker 1>autopilot to disengage.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh no, yeah, the plane.

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<v Speaker 1>Is now flying manually, and like a car with the

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<v Speaker 1>alignment slightly off, a seven thirty seven has a natural

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<v Speaker 1>tendency to roll slightly without the autopilot holding it perfectly level.

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<v Speaker 1>The plane begins to roll to the right at a

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<v Speaker 1>rate of just one degree per second, just one degree,

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<v Speaker 1>very slow. For a full minute, neither the captain nor

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<v Speaker 1>the copilot notices they are slowly rolling upside down. See

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<v Speaker 1>I have to push back on this. How is that

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<v Speaker 1>physically possible? I mean, I get distracted by my phone, sure,

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<v Speaker 1>but how do too highly trained pilots not feel their

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<v Speaker 1>massive passenger jet rolling onto its side. Don't you feel

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<v Speaker 1>the gravity shifting in your seat?

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<v Speaker 2>It sounds impossible, but without a visual horizon, which they

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<v Speaker 2>didn't have because they were inside a dark storm cloud,

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<v Speaker 2>the human inner ear is completely untrustworthy. Really, it's a

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<v Speaker 2>physiological phenomenon called spatial disorientation. The fluid in your inner ear,

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<v Speaker 2>which detects motion, basically settles when a role is very gradual,

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<v Speaker 2>So your brain tells you that you are flying perfectly

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<v Speaker 2>straight and level, even when you're tilted sixty degrees.

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<v Speaker 3>Wow.

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<v Speaker 1>It's like the aviation equivalent of staring at a frozen

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<v Speaker 1>Google Map screen on your phone while you're driving and

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<v Speaker 1>completely failing to notice that you've slowly veered into oncoming traffic.

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<v Speaker 2>Exactly, your brain just deletes the bigger picture.

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<v Speaker 1>And the plane's computerized voice is screaming, bank angle, bank Angle,

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<v Speaker 1>But they are so hyper focused on this broken IRS

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<v Speaker 1>unit they don't even process the audio warning.

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<v Speaker 2>No, they tune it out entirely. By the time the

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<v Speaker 2>captain finally looks up and realizes what's happening, they are

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<v Speaker 2>past the point of no return.

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<v Speaker 3>He realizes too late.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he pulls back on the controls while they're still

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<v Speaker 2>banked over, which actually forces the plane into a nine

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<v Speaker 2>hundred kilometer per hour spiral dive directly into the sea.

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<v Speaker 2>The plane literally ripped apart from the gravitational forces before

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<v Speaker 2>it even hit the water.

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<v Speaker 3>That is just horrifying.

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<v Speaker 1>So if getting hyper fixated on a broke blokn screen

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<v Speaker 1>in midair is one form of distraction, what happens when

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<v Speaker 1>that distraction happens on the ground before you even take off?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, that takes us to Detroit August nineteen eighty seven,

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<v Speaker 2>Northwest Flight two fifty five. This is a highly experienced

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<v Speaker 2>crew and they got a last minute runway change due

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<v Speaker 2>to thunderstorms rolling in. They are stressed, They are forty

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<v Speaker 2>five minutes behind schedule, and they are completely distracted trying

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<v Speaker 2>to navigate the complex taxiways to find this new shorter runaway.

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<v Speaker 2>So they're rushing. They're rushing, and in that confusion, they

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<v Speaker 2>completely forget to run their taxi checklist. Oh man, and

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<v Speaker 2>that checklist contains one absolutely vital step. Extending the wing

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<v Speaker 2>flaps and slats. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>Think of flaps and slats like a bird extending its

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<v Speaker 1>feathers to catch more air. When they slide out from

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<v Speaker 1>the wing, they physically change the shape of the wing,

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<v Speaker 1>curving it to cup the air and generate lift even

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<v Speaker 1>at slower takeoff speeds.

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<v Speaker 3>Without them, the wing is just too sleek. It just

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<v Speaker 3>slices through the air without lifting the plane at all.

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<v Speaker 2>Exactly. They accelerate down the runway, they pull the nose up,

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<v Speaker 2>and nothing happens.

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<v Speaker 3>It just won't fly.

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<v Speaker 2>The plane barely leaves the ground, It rolls side to

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<v Speaker 2>side and crashes into a highway overpass, killing one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>and fifty four passengers and crew. There was only one survivor,

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<v Speaker 2>a four year old girl named Cecilia, which is a.

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<v Speaker 3>Miracle in itself. But wait, that doesn't make sense to me.

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<v Speaker 1>Modern jets like the MD eighty have automated alarms specifically

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<v Speaker 1>designed to blare if you try to take off without

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<v Speaker 1>your flap set? Why was the cockpit voice recorder totally silent?

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<v Speaker 2>Ah? That was the mystery that puzzled the NTSB for

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<v Speaker 2>a long time. Yeah. Investigators eventually found the answer by

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<v Speaker 2>looking closely at a single circuit breaker in the cockpit wreckage,

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<v Speaker 2>the P forty breaker. It was covered in greasy smudge

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<v Speaker 2>marks mark Yeah. You see. The takeoff configuration warning was

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<v Speaker 2>notoriously irritating on this plane. When pilots were just taxiing

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<v Speaker 2>on the ground, simply pushing the throttles up slightly to

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<v Speaker 2>turn the plane would trigger this loud, blaring alarm.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh I see.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a nuisance alarm, huge nuisance.

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<v Speaker 2>So it had become a widespread, completely unspoken habit among

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<v Speaker 2>pilots to pull the P forty circuit breaker just to

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<v Speaker 2>shut the alarm up during taxing.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's where it gets really interesting. They pull it for

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<v Speaker 1>peace and quiet, got entirely distracted by getting lost on

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<v Speaker 1>the taxiway, completely skipped the checklist that would have reminded

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<v Speaker 1>them to deploy the flaps right, and without that circuit

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<v Speaker 1>breaker engage, the plane couldn't even warn them they were

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<v Speaker 1>about to attempt an impossible take.

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<v Speaker 2>Off exactly, and this crash changed aviation procedures fundamentally. NASA

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<v Speaker 2>sent a research scientist named Asaf de Gani to study

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<v Speaker 2>how pilots were actually using checklists in the real world

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<v Speaker 2>and what did he find. He found they were often

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<v Speaker 2>horribly designed to long know logical flow, and if a

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<v Speaker 2>crew is interrupted by say, radio call, they'd lose their

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<v Speaker 2>plays and just guess where to resume.

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<v Speaker 3>Just skimming it basically.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so Degani revolutionized the design, creating the modern electronic

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<v Speaker 2>smart checklists we use today. These forced crews to follow

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<v Speaker 2>a logical, chunked flow and the system literally won't let

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<v Speaker 2>them proceed until the computer verifies the action is actually completed.

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<v Speaker 1>Wow. Okay, So we've seen environmental threats, and we've seen

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<v Speaker 1>what happens when the human mind is distracted. But what

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<v Speaker 1>if the environment attacks, the human does exactly the right

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<v Speaker 1>thing and the machines hidden programming, fights back.

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<v Speaker 2>That is the terrifying paradox of Scandinavian Airlines Flight seven

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<v Speaker 2>fifty one. Yeah, it's December nineteen ninety one in Stockholm,

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<v Speaker 2>freezing rain and snow, I mean Donald Douglas DC nine

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<v Speaker 2>takes off just twenty five seconds into the flight, Massive

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<v Speaker 2>booming sounds rock the cabin. The pilots can smell smoke.

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<v Speaker 1>What was it?

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<v Speaker 2>What happened is that clear ice had formed on the

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<v Speaker 2>wings overnight. When the wings flexed turn the force of takeoff,

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<v Speaker 2>that ice shattered, slid back. It was sucked straight into

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<v Speaker 2>the two rear mounted engines.

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<v Speaker 1>And that heavy ice just mangled the titanium. Fan blights

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<v Speaker 1>pull it chew them up right. And when jet engines

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<v Speaker 1>can't process the air coming in smoothly, the aero dynamics

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<v Speaker 1>inside the engine just break down. The fuel ignites violently

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<v Speaker 1>and shoots forward out the front of the engine. It's

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<v Speaker 1>called a compressor surge. And from the accounts it sounds

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<v Speaker 1>like a series of artillery explosions.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, but Captain Stan Rasmussen is a highly experienced pilot.

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<v Speaker 2>He knows exactly what to do. He pulls back the

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<v Speaker 2>throttles to reduce the fuel flow and stop the surging

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<v Speaker 2>so the engines can recover.

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<v Speaker 3>Makes total sense.

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<v Speaker 2>But inexplicably, the throttles push themselves forward against his hand,

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<v Speaker 2>maxing out the engine power. Wait on their own, on

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<v Speaker 2>their own, the surgeon gets so violent that both engines

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<v Speaker 2>completely destroy themselves. Less than two minutes into the flight,

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<v Speaker 2>They're essentially sitting in a giant metal glider falling out of.

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<v Speaker 1>The sky, so Rasmussen has to make a split second decision.

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<v Speaker 1>They are way too low to turn back to the

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<v Speaker 1>airport because you know, turning bleeds altitude, so he just

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<v Speaker 1>glides straight ahead and miraculously maneuvers this unpowered jet into

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<v Speaker 1>a clearing in a dense pine forest. The trees cushion

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<v Speaker 1>the impact. The fuselage breaks into the three pieces, but

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<v Speaker 1>astonishingly all nunder and twenty nine people on board survive.

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<v Speaker 2>It was incredible flying.

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<v Speaker 1>He's immediately hailed as a national hero. But then the

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<v Speaker 1>flight data recorder showed the throttles moving forward, So the

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<v Speaker 1>question was did rasmusen panic and throttle up instead of down.

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<v Speaker 2>Well months later, the manufacturer revealed a hidden piece of

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<v Speaker 2>software called ATR Automatic Thrust.

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<v Speaker 3>Restoration Hidden Software.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, it's a brand new feature designed for noise abatement.

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<v Speaker 2>The FAA had noticed that pilots were throttling back too

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<v Speaker 2>much after takeoff to keep the noise down over residential neighborhoods,

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<v Speaker 2>which was dangerous because they'd lose speed. Okay, so the

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<v Speaker 2>software was programmed to automatically push the throttles back up

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<v Speaker 2>if it sensed power being reduced at a low altitude.

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<v Speaker 3>But the airline didn't know they had bought this update.

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<v Speaker 2>No one told them.

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<v Speaker 1>Rasmussen certainly didn't know it was there. He reduced power

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<v Speaker 1>to save the surging engines, and the software, acting exactly

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<v Speaker 1>as programmed, pushed the throttles forward. It physically fought him,

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<v Speaker 1>flooded the damaged engines with fuel, and blew them apart.

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<v Speaker 1>If the software hadn't been there, the engines might have

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<v Speaker 1>actually survived.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they likely would have. And the psychological impact on

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<v Speaker 2>the captain was profound. I mean, he did everything right,

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<v Speaker 2>but the machine he trusted betrayed him. Yeah, he was

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<v Speaker 2>cleared of all wrongdoing, celebrated as a hero, but he

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<v Speaker 2>couldn't get back in the cockpit. He eventually left aviation

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<v Speaker 2>entirely because that sacred bond of trust between him and

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<v Speaker 2>the machine was completely broken.

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<v Speaker 1>Man. You know, it really makes you realize that every

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<v Speaker 1>single chime you hear, every checklist your pilots run through,

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<v Speaker 1>every automated safety feature on your next commercial flight, it

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<v Speaker 1>isn't just theory. It is a set of hard lessons

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<v Speaker 1>written in the wreckage of flights like Helio's five twenty.

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<v Speaker 3>Two, Delta one ninety one, and Northwest two fifty five.

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<v Speaker 2>So what does this all mean? Ultimately, aviation is the

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<v Speaker 2>ultimate test of balancing human intuition with technological failsakees. We

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<v Speaker 2>build machines to protect us from our own errors, but

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<v Speaker 2>we also have to rely on human adaptability when those

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<v Speaker 2>very machines fail completely misinterpret the environment.

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<v Speaker 1>We started out by talking about that invisible safety net

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<v Speaker 1>being a mosaic built from past disasters, and honestly, it

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<v Speaker 1>makes you wonder about the future. As artificial intelligence and

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<v Speaker 1>automation take over more of our daily lives, from the

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<v Speaker 1>self driving cars on our streets to the commercial planes

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<v Speaker 1>we fly in. Will the next era of safety be

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<v Speaker 1>about training humans to perfectly blindly trust the machine or

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<v Speaker 1>will it be about knowing exactly when we need to

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<v Speaker 1>violently yank the circuit breaker and turn the machine off.

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<v Speaker 1>Think about that next time you hear that pleasant ding

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<v Speaker 1>at thirty thousand feet