Malcolm Gladwell On Culture and Airplane Crashes

theodp writes "While the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 pilots' lack of communication puzzles crash investigators, readers of author Malcolm Gladwell are likely having a deja vu moment. Back in 2008, Gladwell dedicated a whole chapter of his then-new book Outliers to Culture, Cockpit Communication and Plane Crashes (old YouTube interview). 'Korean Air had more plane crashes than almost any other airline in the world for a period at the end of the 1990s,' Gladwell explained in an interview. 'When we think of airline crashes, we think, Oh, they must have had old planes. They must have had badly trained pilots. No. What they were struggling with was a cultural legacy, that Korean culture is hierarchical. You are obliged to be deferential toward your elders and superiors in a way that would be unimaginable in the U.S.'"

Comments

Deference, No. Massive Drinking, Yes

[DexterIsADog]

Right - Americans certainly wouldn't show inordinate deference to superiors. They just drink 16 rum and diet cokes the night before they fly. http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-dumbest-pilots/8

Fucking Asian drivers

[TWiTfan]

Remind me to check the cockpit next time I fly to make sure my co-pilots aren't more worried about dishonoring the oldest pilot than KEEPING US FROM CRASHING INTO THE FUCKING OCEAN!

Re:I remember being puzzled by that chapter

[Hatta]

Three, in a period of 90 years, to six in a period of 3 years. That's 60 times the prosecutions per unit time. Do you not understand rates?