I just finished reading the October 2023 issue. Thanks for the opportunity to share “The Overconfidence Beast” as a Learning Experience for your readers. Aviation Safety is a most valuable conduit for a mutual sharing of experience and expertise leading to a safer industry. Thank goodness we can learn from others.
“No Pressure” takes me back to my Air Force days when all aircrew had to go through HAI (High Altitude Indoctrination) training with a ride in a hypobaric chamber to 30,000 feet, stopping at various altitudes along the way. At each “level off,” we doffed our oxygen masks to perform a series of cognitive function tests, demonstrating how quickly hypoxia can set in. An eye-opening, educational but humbling experience, as virtually anything above 10K showed a marked decrease in my ability to do even basic addition or multiplication tasks, topped off by my time of useful consciousness at 30K being a little over 30 seconds.
