Libyan Airliner Analysis

     Just as the “Monday Morning” quarterback would have recognized dangers and grabbed opportunities while leading the team to certain victory, we second-guess adverse events without fully understanding the complexity of the situation. When we know the outcome of a situation, we are much more likely to judge the process as inadequate, substandard, or less than perfect when the outcome is negative than when positive. The correct action that should have occurred is crystal clear. Hindsight is 20-20.

A combination of latent failures occurring simultaneously created the conditions for the accidental death:

• The plane penetrated the war zone in the Sinai Desert. It was on a hostile route used by Egyptian fighters going toward Israeli military base.
• Miscommunication during flight - Plane began to land ascended and veered away: Pilots recognized the base was incorrect; Israeli’s thought they were trying to escape.
• Pilots thought fighter planes were Egyptian, Israeli’s thought the plane was suspicious because of shaded windows.
• Pilots had confusing position data.
• A language barrier led to miscommunication between the pilot, co-pilot and ATC.