Arguing pilots fly 150 miles past runway

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by Angry

They just kept flying. Just like you would keep driving. There is a better form of cruise control up there as well. Thay call it "Auto Pilot".

Eveyone thinks that just because they are flying in a plane that they are paying more attention. The truth is that after you get comfortable doing something, you get complacent. It happens to everyone; no one is immune, especially when you have a job as redundant as flying or driving. I am suprised that this sort of thing does not happen more often. You may disagree with the comparison, but I have seen things like this fist hand.

Sorry, it's not the same. Becoming distracted while flying a plane is undoubtedly more dangerous. The comparison may work from a purely functional standpoint but pilots get paid a pretty good amount of money to be doing what they are doing. And for good reason. Their ability to fly that plane, and all the skills required to do so, gives them responsibility for dozens if not hundreds of lives. In the end the potential consequences of the two aren't nearly the same. Just because something like this happens more often than we'd like to know doesn't make it any better. They should be fired and lose their licenses.

[KLHJ2]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

Sorry, it's not the same. Becoming distracted while flying a plane is undoubtedly more dangerous. The comparison may work from a purely functional standpoint but pilots get paid a pretty good amount of money to be doing what they are doing. And for good reason. Their ability to fly that plane, and all the skills required to do so, gives them responsibility for dozens if not hundreds of lives. In the end the potential consequences of the two aren't nearly the same. Just because something like this happens more often than we'd like to know doesn't make it any better. They should be fired and lose their licenses.

It is not more dangerous, don't you read those statistics where it is safer to fly than drive? I understand that in a car crash you could die, while in a plane crash you probably will die.

No they don't, not for a long time anyway.
WikiAnswers - How much money does an airline pilot earn

Regardless, you are expecting somebody to be as diligent at doing something their 451st time as they were on ther 1st. It just doesn't work that way. Human nature doesn't work that way. You can preach on and on about money, severity, danger, ect. until you are blue in the face. That does not change the fact that you are human, will get complacent, and eventually will make a mistake.

Now before you guys start wondering what airline I work for...I don't, I am not a pilot. I have ridden in planes and I have walked out of planes. That is not what I am basing my experience on.

My experience has come from being tired, hungy, and traveling in convoys at night across a combat zone. At no other time than this would you expect to be on your toes no matter what. After doing it for you 50th time, in the middle of the desert, while looking through a set of NVG's, wearing the hottest pieces of clothing US Tax dollars can buy, sitting inside of the cockpit of an armored track vehicle, while the engine compartment is letting off some intense heat, you fall asleep while driving. minutes later you wake up startled, wondering how in the hell you managed to drive as long as you did without getting into an accident. Sadly, this happens more than once, on more than one night, and to more than one driver.

If we can get complacent in a combat zone, what makes you think that it can't or shouldn't happen on a plane?

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by Angry

It is not more dangerous, don't you read those statistics where it is safer to fly than drive? I understand that in a car crash you could die, while in a plane crash you probably will die.

Perhaps I should have said that the consequences are greater. The difference is that not paying attention and missing an exit causes no one harm. This type of inattention arguably is harmless in general. Losing track of what you are doing while flying an airplane, while similar in type and consequence in this case, is simply a much worse indicator for the abilities of the pilot. When flying a plane with hundreds of people on board if you can't pay attention enough to know when to land the plane then I am pretty damned worried about you being a pilot. That's a rather large thing to miss. We're not talking about taxiing to the wrong gate here. They forgot to land the plane.

No they don't, not for a long time anyway.
WikiAnswers - How much money does an airline pilot earn

That's not peanuts.

Regardless, you are expecting somebody to be as diligent at doing something their 451st time as they were on ther 1st. It just doesn't work that way. Human nature doesn't work that way. You can preach on and on about money, severity, danger, ect. until you are blue in the face. That does not change the fact that you are human, will get complacent, and eventually will make a mistake.

Look I buy your rationale about human nature. But in this type of case it doesn't apply. If it did we'd hear about this happening more often. I haven't heard of it before. That leads me to believe that most pilots don't EVER have a problem remembering to land the plane at the appropriate time.