Know What You Know

"Near miss, nose dive, and tigers...oh my!"

There was a story in the news recently regarding a "near miss" of two airliners over Hawaii which has sparked some discussion amongst those who are interested in such things.     Reading the commentary on the incident on a forum not otherwise dedicated to aviation had a much more dramatic take on the situation than commentary of the same story on a pilot board.

The general discussion board contained comments on how the quoted "600 feet per minute" descent rate is a "nose dive", that were it not for the bravery of the pilots disaster was certain, and other savory bits of dramatic prose.     The discussion on the pilots board started with some basic factual information around how the equipment detected a possible collision and issued a suggested course of action, some discussion around how the *average* descent rate of an airliner is in thousands of feet per minute,  then quickly turned to amusement at the ...out-of-the-box... thinking being demonstrated on the other board.     Essentially, the experts in the field were non-plussed by the story while the general population thought it something much, much more dramatic than it actually was.

We all like to contribute or share our ideas when presented with an opportunity to help; for most of us, being helpful is in our nature and we'd like to help see others succeed as well by sharing knowledge and understanding.    Sometimes, however, we fall into the trap of believing and/or repeating information we may have heard once that was incomplete or worse, completely incorrect.    This can be especially true when the information, although incorrect, "seems" reasonable and righteous.   Fortunately, this kind of information (such that associated with the story mentioned above) can usually be fact checked rather easily via Google, or better yet - by talking to an expert in the area of interest.

Failure to check these facts can lead to over-dramaticizing while describing an issue, which in turn can lead to decisions which may or may not reflect the best path forward.    I had written a while ago about taking some time to wind your watch before making a decision; perhaps doing the same before posting a dramatic re-telling of a factual event might warrant the same.

As an aside - what, exactly, is a "near miss"?   Is that when two planes just barely collide, just nearly missing each other?