"A Lieberman" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 13:56:11 GMT, Jose wrote:

There is no excuse for most pilot error. But there are reasons.

I'd have to disagree with the first sentence. Making a decision based on
facts known at the time of launch can substantially change after the
wheels
go up.

Pilot error is an extremely complicated issue. It's existence is clear in
some instances but in some accidents, it's vague and clouded with individual
interpretation.
On several accident investigation teams where I've been involved in some
way, I've been present at meetings where the issue of pilot error was being
resolved. Of course,the situation involved those making this call not having
been there at the moment of decision being decided upon.
It's an interesting process, and it usually boils down to the handling of
the changing dynamic you are addressing after wheels up.
There is the level of preparedness that has to be judged, and even that is
arbitrary. Then comes the action taken or not taken under the changing
dynamic during the flight and it's ramification to the accident.
In all too many decisions on probable cause, it comes down to someone who
wasn't there mentally imaging what THEY would have done in the same
circumstance.
This is why we have "probable cause" in our accidentreports...that and the
legal ramifications of a more positive statement. Positive statements in
accident reports immediately become subject to attack legally.
I hate to venture a guess as to how many dead pilots were simply victims of
overtask in a developing situation that exceeded their ability to cope, and
would have exceed as well the ability to cope for those who determined that
pilot error was the probable cause.
When you start thinking about things from this perspective, it becomes clear
that even the very best among us can be bitten. There is risk in flying.
All we can do is prepare to meet this risk through practice, training, and
attitude from day one.
We learn and adjust every day we are in aviation to cut down the odds in our
favor when those "moments of decision" arrive after the wheels hit the wells
or we don't. The plain fact is that there is no such thing as perfect flight
safety, only pilots who practice, prepare, train, and develop an attitude
about flight safety that bends the odds in their favor.
Dudley Henriques