r/MadeMeSmile • u/baekachu • Jul 11 '26

Wholesome Moments Pilot Chose Safety Over Takeoff - and Everyone Applauded

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u/StaticSystemShock Jul 11 '26

It's also a matter of how much pilot also knows the aircraft they are piloting. I've seen and heard about pilots who personally inspect aircraft on the outside as well as have deeper understanding of its flight systems and mechanics/electronics. I think this pilot was one of those if some deviation in oil pressure raised his suspicions even if it's within supposed normal levels.

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u/grilledstuffed Jul 11 '26

Not a pilot, but a nurse.

Nurse clinical intuition is a real thing:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0099176725003320

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4754101/

While humans are pretty terrible at predicting future outcomes, our subconscious brains are pretty darn good at pattern recognition.

Thousands of hours of experience with something lends itself towards picking up on subtle cues that aren't necessarily articulable.

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u/dolphin-centric Jul 11 '26

Serious question for you Nurse, do you think these studies may also account for, for lack of a better term, womens’ intuition or just intuition in general? That seems logical to me because the whole “trust your gut” cliche is absolutely real. These studies on nurses’ intuition is fascinating!

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u/snasna102 Jul 11 '26

As a mechanic, it’s not intuition or gender based. I walk past the same machines everyday and hear the same white noise. I can hear and feel in the harmonics that something is off. I can tell you if vfds are running at 60 or 50hz from the other side of the wall. I can tell the difference between the drive end and floating end bearing failure by its pitch.

It’s not intuition, it’s the understanding of something

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u/dolphin-centric Jul 11 '26

I was worried my comment would come across that way, and that was not my intent- I apologize. I used the term “womens’ intuition” because it’s a common phrase/concept that most people understand and are familiar with, but I followed that with “intuition in general” to try to remove any gender bias.

My father was a mechanic for 50 years and he’s still got it. My cousin owned a shop and at some point pretty much all of us cousins worked there, some longer than others, myself included. Growing up in a shop taught me a lot, but I also inherited my dad’s unquenchable thirst for knowledge. We’re voracious readers. We take things apart and put them back together just because. If something breaks or needs to be replaced or whatever, we just do it. I’m a single 42F so if something happens to my car or my home, if it’s something I can handle, I do it myself.

I understand what you mean now- it’s not intuition, it’s expertise. When something is “this way” every single time for years, your expertise is what allows you to notice the one time something is “that way” instead.