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The pilots are expert in flying and no doubt in-the-moment aerial observation; but its not clear why we need to take their opinion as final and impartial in pos

The pilots are expert in flying and no doubt in-the-moment aerial observation; but its not clear why we need to take their opinion as final and impartial in post-event video analysis.

ctvo 5y ago
> The pilots are expert in flying and no doubt in-the-moment aerial observation; And the pilots say it's something they can't explain, and have never seen before, on the record. More than one account. The problem is the writer dismisses all of this, and takes the explanation of people who saw only the video. How dismissive the writer is of other's lived experience and expertise in their own domain is what I have trouble with.
minitoar 5y ago
Yes, this “pilots are trained professionals and therefore they can accurately identify a meaningful anomaly” does not match my experience of being a pilot or the training I received. It is drilled into you that your senses basically can’t be trusted. Your eyes and your brain will try to make sense of what you are seeing and feeling and that’s fine but it’s up to your higher brain to remember that those systems are often wrong. Your eyes will trick you and you have to use other context to actually know what you are seeing — information that is not always available.
- quesera 5y ago
  Exactly. Pilots are highly trained, but they are not experts in everything (physics, atmospheric science). At the end of the day, everyone is fallible -- and even the experts are sometimes surprised. These reports can only be treated as best efforts to fit observed phenomena into an existing framework of (inherently limited) understanding. When the phenomenon is adequately oddball, you have to expect an increased level of misinterpretation. See also: doctors, scientists, infosec practitioners, ... Clearly, this is adequate justification for collection of additional data, but it's not enough to draw conclusions from.
buzzin__ 5y ago
If a pilot of a $1000 kite can manage to glue a Gopro on himself, perhaps a $millions fighter plane pilot on a training mission can do the same.

The pilots are expert in flying and no doubt in-the-moment aerial observation; but its not clear why we need to take their opinion as final and impartial in post-event video analysis.

ctvo 5y ago

> The pilots are expert in flying and no doubt in-the-moment aerial observation; And the pilots say it's something they can't explain, and have never seen before, on the record. More than one account. The problem is the writer dismisses all of this, and takes the explanation of people who saw only the video. How dismissive the writer is of other's lived experience and expertise in their own domain is what I have trouble with.

minitoar 5y ago

Yes, this “pilots are trained professionals and therefore they can accurately identify a meaningful anomaly” does not match my experience of being a pilot or the training I received. It is drilled into you that your senses basically can’t be trusted. Your eyes and your brain will try to make sense of what you are seeing and feeling and that’s fine but it’s up to your higher brain to remember that those systems are often wrong. Your eyes will trick you and you have to use other context to actually know what you are seeing — information that is not always available.

quesera 5y ago
Exactly. Pilots are highly trained, but they are not experts in everything (physics, atmospheric science). At the end of the day, everyone is fallible -- and even the experts are sometimes surprised. These reports can only be treated as best efforts to fit observed phenomena into an existing framework of (inherently limited) understanding. When the phenomenon is adequately oddball, you have to expect an increased level of misinterpretation. See also: doctors, scientists, infosec practitioners, ... Clearly, this is adequate justification for collection of additional data, but it's not enough to draw conclusions from.

buzzin__ 5y ago

If a pilot of a $1000 kite can manage to glue a Gopro on himself, perhaps a $millions fighter plane pilot on a training mission can do the same.