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Preliminary report into Air India crash released

(www.bbc.co.uk)
294 points cjr | 3 comments | 11 Jul 25 20:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.411s | source
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fsckboy ◴[11 Jul 25 23:07 UTC] No.44537714[source]▶
it makes sense to me that the pilot who said "I did not do it" actually did do it without realizing it, was supposed to be putting the landing gear up when he committed a muscle memory mistake. it happened around the time the landing gear should be up, and this explanation matches what was said in the cockpit, and the fact that the landing gear wasn't retracted. I think this idea was even floated initially by the youtube pilot/analysts I watch but dismissed as unlikely.
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codefeenix ◴[11 Jul 25 23:21 UTC] No.44537808[source]▶
even though that raising the gear is a up motion and fuelcut off is a down motion?
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rogerrogerr ◴[11 Jul 25 23:27 UTC] No.44537843[source]▶
And fuel cutoff is _two_ down motions? That's the death knell for this theory, imo.
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1. fsckboy ◴[12 Jul 25 00:08 UTC] No.44538090[source]▶
i have several passwords i type all the time. sometimes i get them confused and type the wrong one to the wrong prompt. i type them by muscle memory, but i also think about them while typing and i think thoughts like "time to reach up and to the left on the keyboard for this password". I couldn't tell you the letter i'm trying to type, i just know to do that.

not all my passwords are up and to the left, some are down and to the right, but when i type the wrong one into the wrong place, i type it accurately, i'm just not supposed to be typing it.

"time to do that thing i've practiced, reach to the left". shuts two engines off by muscle memory.

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2. WalterBright ◴[12 Jul 25 03:12 UTC] No.44538984[source]▶
My editor is MicroEmacs, which I've been using since the 1980s. I no longer remember what the commands are, but my fingers do.

I remember once writing a cheat sheet for the commands by looking at what my fingers were doing.

3. Mawr ◴[12 Jul 25 09:23 UTC] No.44540593[source]▶
> "time to do that thing i've practiced, reach to the left". shuts two engines off by muscle memory.

If that were true, pilots would perform arbitrary motions all the time. Same with car drivers.

Typing something on a keyboard, especially when it's always in the same context, is always essentially the same physical action. The context of a password prompt is the same, the letters on the keyboard feel the same and are right next to each other.

Not comparable to pressing two very different buttons placed far apart, in a context when you'd never ever reach for them.