A small widget fails deep in the core of a complex mechanism flying through the skies. A chain of events follows, ending with a crew of professional pilots and cabin crewmembers safely returning their passengers and aircraft to the ground. Everyone goes home satisfied with a job well done.
The investigators go to work, piecing together all the clues to find out what happened, to learn what they can and to hopefully make sure it doesn’t happen again. A critical part of that learning process is the narrative report provided by the crew. Being able to match up the available evidence — whether parts or residue, flight data, radar traces, recordings or any other type of information — allows the investigator to see a full picture of what took place and to understand the role of the crew in managing the events as they unfolded.
In most cases and in many parts of the world, that’s the end of the story. Those pilots, that investigator, perhaps the airline, will have learned a valu…
