And planes don't fall from the sky?
When I was in the Air Force, we had a running joke. If an organization can be this fucked up, why is it planes don’t just fall from the skies? We all had faith in the individuals, but figured the bureaucracy would somehow find a way to disallow maintenance or perhaps change the order from bolts to nuts because of a misfiled entry. In the end, it seemed incredible that planes didn’t have wings simply fall off more often.
Today reminds me of Brazil. I realize most people have never heard of this movie. It’s a surreal dystopian view of the future from the mind of Terry Gilliam. One of my favorite movies, it takes a bureaucratic approach to 1984… on acid. In fact, the entire movie follows the mishaps based on a single character error on a single form. A suspected terrorist Tuttle becomes a poor Buttle. Buttle plays by the rules and is still incarcerated, convicted and executed because of this mistake, which the machinery of society quickly sweeps under the rug. After all, the Ministry of Information doesn’t make mistakes.
I’ve spent the last several days working through some interesting problems for a client. The application in question is focused on organization charts, so I’ve reviewed several larger organization charts as part of my research. Let’s just say, it doesn’t inspire confidence in corporate America.
Can anybody answer my simple question – why don’t planes fall from the sky?
I feel obligated to tell you its because of Bernoulli’s Principle
If you’re really interested, one of my summer profs is the industry expert on statistical analysis in the airline industry and failures.
http://sloancf.mit.edu/vpf/popup-if.cfm?in_spseqno=5&co_list=F
@Kacey I’m well aware of the principles of flight and at least vaguely aware of the statistical models around part failure. My remarks are more a sarcastic commentary about the obvious inefficacy and inefficiency in the processes used. Poor processes are very common. I was attempting to mirror the absurdity of the process with an absurd question, “Why don’t planes fall from the skies?”
The amazing part isn’t that planes can fly. Rather, it is amazing that people using these fucked up processes can maintain planes that consistently fly.
That being said, Barnett probably has some interesting papers (well, interesting to geeks like me anyway). Even if they focus on the slightly more mundane question, how frequently do the people and machines actually fail?