I think you touch on what might be an easier example to demonstrate with here: "GEAR NOT DOWN" So the plane has determined you are close to the ground, but th

I think you touch on what might be an easier example to demonstrate with here: "GEAR NOT DOWN" So the plane has determined you are close to the ground, but the landing gear is not extended. What is the proper course of action? If you're trying to land on a runway or other normal surface (i.e., 99 cases out of a hundred type of thing) the appropriate action would be to extend the landing gear. In that other case though, extending the landing gear in preparation for something like an emergency water landing is certain to take something which has a surprisingly good survival rate and turn it into a mass casualty event. So we're left with the choice between "do the usual thing automatically, and rely on the pilot to remember to override it in the rare event of an emergency" or "alert the pilot and rely on them to evaluate whether it's the right thing for their current situation and conditions". I would definitely argue for the latter. Especially in this specific example increasing cognitive load during exceptional situations to make the unexceptional more convenient is probably not what we want to do. The plane is not aware of the actual situation the plane is in. The pilot is.