When the title of this video essay came up on my computer screen I was pretty doubtful. There is a lot of clickbait out there and I’m used to lurid headlines designed to get my attention for the all important clicks that will give a site resonance in the online world. But I watched a little of it and became more intrigued especially as the title became more and more likely to be true. The pilots claimed to be working on their laptops and lost track of time.

But it does appear based on the totality of the evidence that that they were asleep. This is very obviously a business ethics failure. And as failures goes very blatant and very foolish. I read and watch a lot of material on air crashes because it makes for compelling stories for teaching business ethics. I have long used the BOAC Comet crash as example of design failure and manufacturing stupidity, the Turkish DC-10 crash outside Paris as an example of failing to fix an obvious and serious defect and the horrid tale of Air Alaska’s inverted last minutes as an example of a failure to perform maintenance. I’m trying to convey practical lessons about corporate behavior to a new generation of students.

This example is pretty close to useless as a moral example. I was teaching college students but if you ask a bunch of six year olds if you should nap instead of flying the plane, bless their little hearts, they are going to say no. They already have enough ethical sense to know that crosses a line.

I recommend the video. It is informative and certainly conveys the government and the air industry’s desire to maintain contact with conscious air crew at all times.

James Alan Pilant