Korean Job Discussion Forums

[byrddogs]

[saram_]

A more pertinent question to ask now surely is..

Is American culture to blame for the KTVU gaffe?

http://is.gd/sCk5oO

Speaking of culture-- the Huffington Post have unearthed this gem.
Lots to consider - http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3575115

[cj1976]

[Who's Your Daddy?]

[diver]

I wonder if "Ask a Korean" would be interested in critiquing this?

http://www.flight.org/blog/2009/10/01/korean-airlines-internal-audit-report-an-airline-waiting-to-happen/

Things are better now, but to say Gladwell was way off base for his assessment of KAL in the late 90s would not be entirely accurate either. In fact, the author of that critique does the same things he accuses Gladwell of doing - conveniently ignoring facts that are contrary to his argument. Gladwell may have been been guilty of some linguistic gymnastics to make his point, but the author conveniently forgets to mention that a full audit was done and that there were issues with "cockpit culture" at KAL and that the whole airline had to be overhauled.

BTW, back in the 90s, Korean Air co-pilots were not always afraid of questioning or outright overriding their captains. I wonder if there were any significant differences in the case below that allowed the co-pilot to intervene?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Flight_2033
http://www.airdisaster.com/cvr/kal2033.shtml
http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-16373.html


Anyway, as to what caused THIS crash (Flight 214) we'll have to wait and see. But you do have to wonder - THREE pilots in the cockpit and no one seemed to realize the danger until seconds before impact. In some of the amateur videos, you can hear non-pilot witnesses commenting that the approach didn't look right.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Mr. BlackCat]

[wonkavite62]

I suppose it ispossible that the fixation on seniority meant that the pilot was unable to consult the senior pilot. Confucianism, [/b]or its Korean variant causes a lot of stress in Korea now. Yet I have to say there are good things in Confucianism. Confucius and his followers wanted people to be benevolent to everyone, but to their family in particular. In an age of increasing violence and disorder in China, the aim was to get people to be llaw abiding and loyal to their elders and betters. Education was to make people good, but also could help ordinary people advance.
But there was a strong emphasis too on the authorities, who had to be virtuous, and servants of the people, and earn people'strust and loyalty. Confucius gave people the right to overthrow evil and oppressive rulers.
But in China and later Korea, loyalty became blind obedience. You could not question authority even evill authority. The form of Confucianism Korea acquired was a very ritualised and developed form. It wasnot pure, becauseit was influenced by Legalism, aparticularly harsh philosophy.
That blind respect for authority MAY be a factor in this case, but we need more time to be certain. In any case that crash was a great tragedy.

[maximmm]

The whole discussion how Confucianism impacts the cockpit culture is an interesting one - yet, many seem to forget that the pilot flying the plane was actually younger than his instructor.

In other words, Confucianism did not play a role in this instance - moving on.

[diver]

[optik404]

You can definitely be racist towards a certain group and still interact or even marry them. Not saying you specifically.

[Mr. BlackCat]

[diver]

Well, it remains to be seen if "Korean cockpit culture" had any influence on the crash of Flight 214 but I do think we can conclude, rather definitively, that if Byrd and Patrick were flying that plane, it would never have left the ground and they'd still be arguing with each other on the tarmac at Shanghai.

[optik404]

Just read that Asiana is considering suing the news channel in SF for damage to the company and pilots reputation. Seems like they're trying to steer the attention away from the crash.

[diver]