flight phase inhibit.

 

Industrial control engineers call it the Alarm Philosophy, something that bores some to tears and others become expert.  Take for example an oil refinery with centralized control of two-dozen or more process units and all information is on screens... obvious need for 'phase inhibit' alarm strategy.  As it turns out, the big players in industrial control systems are also big players in aviation control systems eg Honeywell.

I like the concept of prioritization.  What is important at one point can pale in significance in another situation.

 

About 25 years ago I found myself as a civilian in a combat situation somewhere in world.  I was asleep in the dead of the night and dreaming about what I thought was thunder.  At some point my finer instincts kicked in and I woke up to realize that what I thought was thunder was actually rockets landing and exploding in our neighborhood.  I remember thinking in terror about the consequences if the house was hit and turned into a pile of rubble with me at the bottom.  Since all I had on while sleeping was my underwear, I grabbed some shorts as I shot out the door faster than a T7 at full takeoff thrust.  I made it into the front yard where many of my neighbors were already taking cover.  Attempting to put on my shorts to reduce the chuckles that I knew would be forthcoming if we survived this barrage, I discovered that I had grabbed another pair of underwear and not shorts.  

 

My options at this point were to run back inside to get some shorts on  and risk getting crushed, or prioritize my safety over my embarrassment and ride the barrage out.  I went with option two and was the butt of many jokes, but hey, I lived to tell.

 

Richard Bansa