FEAR!

FEAR

Hello guys. Hope everyone is doing good.

I am a big fan of documentaries, usually related to engineering. I avidly watch air crash investigations. Some people may feel that it is a depressing show to watch as it involves many deaths. But, it is because of these incidents that our flying is more safe.

While I was watching few episodes, I came across an incident that occurred on July 3rd, 1988. The incident happened near the waters of Iran. A passenger flight was shot down by a US Navy warship. The ship was in a battle with some local boats that opened fire on one of their surveillance helicopters. I won't be going into perfect details about the incident as this post is not just about the incident , but to emphasize on the reason that triggered it. FEAR!

The warship misinterpreted some data from their radar which led them into taking down the plane with a ground to air missile. It involved human error and technological error. In short, even though the warship tried to contact the aircraft concerning intentions, there was a difference in the communications, radio frequencies, and then there was the difference in the readings of the speed of the plane. The warship indicated the speed of the aircraft by ground speed, whereas the aircraft displays the airspeed. This difference in some minor readings led the captain of the aircraft to overlook as he was convinced that it was not his aircraft that was being mentioned.

When the aircraft was approaching the warship, they observed the radar giving out a false signal of it being a F-14 fighter jet. The signal that the warship received was from one of the F-14 that was on the ground in the range of the radar. The operator on the warship did not reset the radar onto the Iran airlines flight. This was another error. Although they did have the choice to call off the fire towards the end when the radar stopped giving a signal of the aircraft being a threat, they chose not to.

When the aircraft was within 10 miles of the warship, the captain of the warship had to choose either shoot down the aircraft and save his ship, or let the aircraft attack him and lose his crew and ship. The operators misread the radar data saying that the aircraft was descending and speeding which was actually the opposite of what was actually happening with the aircraft. 

In the fear of losing his crew and ship, the captain shot down the innocent civilian aircraft carrying 290 passengers. All the people on board the Iran flight 655 were reported dead. The aircraft was in the designated flight path and nowhere close to the airspace of the warships. But it was the warship that was in the wrong place, in the waters close to Iran, in the flight path of Iran air 655. 

FEAR! Fear of losing their lives, the operators misread the readings on board. Fear of losing his ship, the captain gave the order to shoot down the plane. Little did the people on board the aircraft expect that they would be killed in such a tragedy.

There is so much more to talk about this incident. But my intention behind this post is not to accuse anyone, but to create an analogy to that of a human reaction when he/she senses fear. 

Even we end up doing many things out of fear. Some may have a logical reasoning. Some reasons may do good and some bad. But we react to the fear that is around us. When you are alone walking on an empty street in the night, no matter what, no matter who, the fear within you may make you even hurt someone you know. It does happen. It is human psychology.

We have seen it in many movies. A school kid fails or gets less marks, he/she may try to do something out of a fear of being scolded by the parents. Even we, at some point of time did something which was not correct because of the fear we had.

Suicide is a cause of this same fear. People end their life because of their fear of confronting unfavorable situations. There is no other logical reason to it. We have seen many victims of this including farmers, students and many more. 

When you fear losing someone in your life, you get desperate and do things that may hurt yourself. But it is not your mistake. It is the fear that overwhelms you. No one can escape this. Everybody is a victim of it. In my life, I did take many unnecessary steps with the fear of losing someone. It is fairly likely that everyone must have done that at some point of time.

But fear is not always a negative entity. Fear is the reason you and me follow the rules set by the law. Fear is the reason why you stop at a red traffic light.

Fear is what makes you live.

Yes, it does. You try to live more, with the fear of dying. You try to get every medical care possible with the same fear. Don't you?

Fear is something we have to respect. Without it, the world would be in chaos

Even nature has a respect for fear. When a turtle senses something wrong, it hides in it's shell. There is a sea creature 'squid' that releases a black liquid when it senses danger. There are many more examples of the same phenomenon.

Fear the love, fear the hate, fear the care, fear loneliness, fear the environment, fear the earth, fear the climate, fear the future,fear the present, fear the past. Fear is what makes you live, fear is what makes you let go.

-Sushi Speaks


By               Sushant Thotakura
Edited By: Nikhil Vattipalli