''Eyewitness memory is reconstructive,'' said Dr. Honts, who is not associated with the safety board. ''The biggest mistake you can make is to think about a mem

''Eyewitness memory is reconstructive,'' said Dr. Honts, who is not associated with the safety board. ''The biggest mistake you can make is to think about a memory like it's a videotape; there's not a permanent record there.'' The problem, he said, is that witnesses instinctively try to match events with their past experiences: ''How many plane crashes have you witnessed in real life? Probably none. But in the movies? A lot. In the movies, there's always smoke and there's always fire.'' https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/weekinreview/ideas-trends-for-air-crash-detectives-seeing-isn-t-believing.html https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/weekinreview/ideas-trends... See also “Reliability of Eyewitness Reports to a Major Aviation Accident”: https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=ijaaa https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&co...