Originally Posted by
UAL T38 Phlyer
They approached each other laterally, from my perspective. Most pilots (even fighter pilots) spend the majority of their scan looking forward of the 3-9 line.
But additionally, I can still hear the words of my Aerospace Physiology instructor at Williams AFB during the classroom lectures prior to flying the mighty Tweet:
"Which airplane is the one you are going to hit? The one that doesn't move."
I had never thought of it that way before.
In fighters (at least, the courses I went through), this stationary target was called "on the CATA" (Collision-Antenna Train Angle). It meant if you were locked on to a guy and the antenna angle didn't change, he was coming straight at you.
Lastly, the human eye reacts to two major physical characteristics: contrast, and relative motion. The video seems to show relatively little relative motion, especially in the peripheral vison area.
Missiles work the same way: no motion, it's coming for you. Makes it tough to see and react to.
Very, very unfortunate accident.
Good point. Also, just throwing it out there and NOT trying to speculate. But there was an accident years ago where a B1900 and a King Air hit each other on take off when departing intersecting runways. Besides ALL the obvious human factors, one of them was probably just as you outlined above, especially on take off.
But something that was brought up in an article I read, with the angle the aircraft approached each other (the 1900/King Air), they may have been in each others blind spot directly behind the cockpit window post. Further decreasing the eye's ability to detect relative motion in an environment that is already task intensive.