One of the persistent threads of post-crash investigations has been the focus on pilot error. Whether the investigators have fully-operable cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders or nothing other than an intermittent radar track and a record of the pilot's preflight weather briefing, it almost always comes down to what the pilots could have done to prevent the crash.*
Maybe the investigations reveal the truth of the matters. But it has always bothered me that the result almost always puts the responsibility for the crashes on the one set of players in the case who are not able to speak for themselves.
So when the Freeh Report puts part of the blame for the Penn State Child Molestation scandal on Joe Paterno, my initial reaction is that it seems kind of convenient that they are fixing responsibility on the dead guy.
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* In spite of known issues with the airplane.
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I imagine the major factor influencing aircraft incident investigations is that blaming the pilot costs no money at all. Blaming anyone else can be expensive.
I wonder if Penn State has thought of that?
I think that's exactly what they were thinking
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