The other day, one of our clients lamented reading his car owners’ manual–he was simply looking for how to reset the auto-window system and couldn’t find it. Seems it’s full of ‘chaff’ in the form of legalese telling him that if he does something dumb he can get hurt or killed. But more than just ‘sport bitching’ about the way of things, the client pointed out that this legalese has made the manual essentially unusable. In order to get to the ‘good’ part — the item he had a question about — there is so much legal BS in the way he can’t find it.
Perhaps lawyers live in this world, but normal people don’t. And haven’t the time or mental faculty to sift through the garbage to find the gold. Especially when the gold is hidden amongst the garbage.
We turned to our good friend Richard “Swingin’ Dick” Long for some advice. Dick’s not only the leader of a unique ballroom swing orchestra, but also he’s an experienced fighter pilot and instructor who’s flown the gamut from agile fighters through 747’s. With permission, we’d like to submit for your approval his thoughts on the matter:
“There’s a whole science behind designing aviation warning systems; it’s quite an ergonomic challenge. And has evolved over the years. The puzzle is to be able to bring a condition to the attention of the pilots without distracting them from the primary task of flying the airplane. And to triage this condition such that their brains can process exactly what’s going on. For example, an electrical bus failure might result in the loss of all kinds of displays and equipment–and each of THESE has some form of warning associated with them. But the bus failure itself is the root cause of the condition and if the OTHER warnings are actioned first, it can misdirect a crew down a rabbit hole of ambiguity. So a proper warning system would display the bus failure, inhibit the OTHER warnings, and provide a checklist which deals with the associated loss of equipment.
Older airplanes didn’t do this and the distraction of mis-analyzing a problem — as well as having the analysis effort take away from the primary task of flying the airplane — caused many crashes. Warning lights of a complex failure essentially resulted in a ‘pinball machine’ of lights and bells coming on (sometimes at a very workload intensive time; like on takeoff or approach) and it was up to the crew to try to figure out which light came on when to get to the root failure and then figure out the corrective action. This could be disastrous; one example is an accident where an errant landing gear warning light absorbed the attention of a crew who inadvertently disengaged the autopilot (and the warning for THIS — something really important — was much more subtile than the glaring landing gear warning). They wound up flying a perfectly good L-1011 into the Everglade swamps killing or injuring many passengers.
On newer airplanes–at least the better designed ones–not only are warnings triaged for the crew but also they’re inhibited during critical phases of flight where they might take away from the primary task of flying the airplane. Fr’ example, a minor hydraulic failure warning on a 777 is inhibited above 80 knots such that it wouldn’t cause a high speed abort which is much more dangerous than the failure that happened. On the other hand, a pilot would want to know about an engine fire all the way up to V1 (the point at which the pilot must reject or continue the takeoff) so these aren’t inhibited–or are inhibited at the point the pilot shouldn’t do anything about it until an appropriate time has elapsed simply flying the airplane. Experienced pilots learned to ‘wind the clock’ — delaying actioning an emergency — until at a safe point where the airplane is flying and comfortably away from the ground. But anyone can get distracted by an errant bell or whistle. As such–even when a serious emergency happens–one of the FIRST tasks (after flying the airplane) is to silence the warning. It’s a “yeah….I know there’s a problem….but it’s gotta wait; I’m too busy making this thing fly…..I’ll get to it when I have time” moment. And good instructors train pilots to this principle when teaching task management. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen upgrading pilots sacrifice aircraft control to do some task that can wait. Learning the skill to MAKE the less important task wait is a part of basic airmanship.
Overall, designers have done a pretty good job in the evolutionary design of airplanes as well as warning systems. But that’s under threat. There seems to be a ‘pinnacle’ of good in most arenas; where things get better then worse. Invariably, it’s due to the involvement of looters, lawyers and bureaucrats. Instead of doing what’s prudent, safe, and legal (in that order of priority) they try to write rules and procedures and hang useless regulatory stuff on equipment. I understand their mentality; the myopic person rooted in law might have a sincere belief that ‘if I write this rule, or put in this warning, nothing bad will happen.’ But that’s not true; you can write a million laws and bad things will still happen. Bad things that are really no one’s fault but the result of fate. Taking solace in law is a fool’s errand because most bad things come in from the sides AROUND the law. While there are good laws and rules that might form a basic framework of operation that enhances safety, one must always remember (as Ernest K. Gann wisely noted) “Rule books are paper.” They do not alter the basic principles of physics nor will they cushion several hundred tonnes of metal running into the ground. Rather than dwelling on “what would the accident board say” or “what would the FAA do to me” how about we simply do what’s prudent and safe in the first place ? And realize NO regulation can take the place of basic airmanship and good judgment. You can’t litigate judgment away.
And lest we forget law taken to the extreme hurts and kills people. A little over 2000 years ago the “no man is above the law” crowd nailed a fine man onto a cross for the heinous violation of simply brining God’s word and salvation to man. These ‘lawyers’ not having a real good track record either before or since. It’s a bit befuddling to me why people listen to them in the first place. But I guess the weak minded love people who speak well in suits and promise with their pen to give them what life cannot deliver.
Hopefully, aircraft designers and pilots will push back against this continuing litany of regulatory nonsense; it gets in the way of safety and life.
When I got into my car the other day and had to unstrap, I was annoyed by the seat belt chime going off. Placed there by some bureaucratic mandate and over fear of litigation. Worse yet–unlike the aircraft warning systems I couldn’t silence it (again caused by some idiotic mandate). Now I’m the kind of guy who takes safety seriously so I wear my seatbelt. But there are times I need to be unstrapped to create a safer environment and I know damn well that my seat belt isn’t on because I NEED it off in those circumstances not restraining my free movement. New cars have stick-shakers when I change lanes (I know I’m changing lanes) and an idiotic auto-stop at red-lights for the engine driven by the climate change marxists. The auto stop not only disables my electric steering–a dangerous situation indeed–but also results in more wear and tear of the starter and lead-acid battery (which will need to be replaced at more frequent intervals–containing REAL environmental toxins and taking real energy to reprocess). The amount of fuel this system saves is trivial if any. Worse yet, I have to disable it before EACH engine start. If I wanted to shut down my engine at red lights I know how to do it and don’t need some mandated system that actually makes things worse for the environment.
Fortunately, I found a way to permanently disable the seat belt chime which makes me a safer driver (it’s on the internet and for the Subaru you turn the ignition on and then rapidly latch and unlatch the driver’s side belt 20 times in 30 seconds) . But things shouldn’t be this way.
What can we do ? As consumers we can express our disdain to manufacturers about these nanny state idiocies. And we can refuse to vote for people who find some clever boogeyman out there and profess to be able to dispense with him with pen and paper. But in the near term, I suppose we simply need to find a way to disable useless warning systems such that they don’t get in the way anymore. ANY warning system–if properly designed–has a way to disable it after the condition has been brought to a person’s attention. And doesn’t continue to squawk after this. NO warning system that’s been properly designed continues to alarm after being acknowledged by the operator. ANY ‘automatic’ warning system that can’t be silenced is a poor design. So–if you can–don’t buy stuff that has these ‘features.’ Reject the warning labels. And if your owner’s manual has this crap in it, tear out the good parts and use the rest of it to light your fireplace. There’s plenty of ‘how-to’s’ on the internet.”
We think, as usual, Dick’s spot on. And would hope the good designers and engineers making consumer goods–and the corporations employing them–scoff at litigation, regulation, and law. Placing IN its place something that’s Prudent and Safe. You’re gonna get sued no matter what. So why not, as a trained professional, feel good about what you’ve made. Having a clean conscience is a wonderful thing; do what’s right. Ditch the no-guns signs, ignore the bureaucrats, mandaters, and lawyers, and go out and live life.
Diatomaceous-Johnson 