A lot of years ago, a commercial airliner with a full load of passengers was poised for takeoff. There were three pilots aboard this aircraft and they had completed their pre takeoff checklist. Everything looked fine but as the pilot started their takeoff run, a warning horn sounded that told them of a problem. They aborted the takeoff, returned to the start of the runway, and ran through their checklist again. As before, everything checked out and they began the takeoff only to be greeted with the warning horn again. Again they aborted the takeoff and returned to the start of the runway. Again they checked all their instruments and all were where they should be. Evidently, they concluded, the warning horn must have a problem so the captain instructed one of the pilots to pull the circuit breaker for the warning horn. On the third attempt, the aircraft had about reached takeoff speed when the first officer noticed the flaps where set to two degrees when it should have been 5 degrees and yelled for the captain to abort the takeoff which he did, just barely in time.
The question the crew asked themselves as they taxied back to the start of the runway was: How could all three pilots misread the flap gauge three times? Evidently, they concluded, they had expected to see a five degree setting and so that is what they saw. [1]
I had a similar experience in regards to what the Bible says about salvation. All my life I was taught that salvation is only through belief in Jesus and his death for our sins. But what about the over 70 verses in the Bible that talk about salvation through means other than belief in Jesus? Evidently I expected to see only verses that supported the belief I was taught and so ignored the others.
What about you?
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[1] Barry Schiff, “Rabbits on the runway”, AOPA Pilot, March 2020, p. 20.
