Tag: friendly fire

When Success Leads to Disaster: Practical Drift & the 1994 Black Hawk Friendly Fire Shootdown

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In 1994, two US Air force F-15 fighters shot down two friendly US Army Black Hawk helicopters. This event shouldn’t have been possible: there were experts, radio communications, radar, AWACS and more. However, this isn’t a tragedy due to human error or a lack of safeguards, it happened in spite of the safeguards. This episode… Continue reading When Success Leads to Disaster: Practical Drift & the 1994 Black Hawk Friendly Fire Shootdown

Snook Friendly Fire: “Seeing is not necessarily believing; sometimes we must believe before we can see… The Hind was constructed … at the intersection of a … ambiguous stimulus, a strong set of expectations, and a perverse desire to see an enemy”

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Extracts from one of my fav books – Scott Snook’s Friendly Fire. It’s a masterclass in applying sensemaking to understand a tragic event – in this case the 1994 friendly fire shootdown of two US Black Hawks, mistaken for enemy Hind helicopters. I’ve recorded a YouTube vid focusing on the sensemaking / Weick & practical… Continue reading Snook Friendly Fire: “Seeing is not necessarily believing; sometimes we must believe before we can see… The Hind was constructed … at the intersection of a … ambiguous stimulus, a strong set of expectations, and a perverse desire to see an enemy”