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Comment by Judson | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure if the link originally pointed to NYT, but the currently linked reuters report adds a bit more context to the messages.

>Forkner said in one text message, “I basically lied to the regulators (unknowingly).” The other employee responded that “it wasn’t a lie, no one told us that was the case” of an issue with MCAS.

>Forkner responded soon after: “Granted I suck at flying, but even this was egregious.”

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I don’t really understand the context of these messages.

The one about MCAS running rampant is clear enough but what does he mean saying that he sucks at flying? What is egregious?

I interpreted that as “I may be a bad pilot but MCAS made my trying to fly in the simulators particularly unsuccessful”

Nope he was complaining they made changes to the MCAS without telling him and he was concerned the simulator wasn’t accurate to the planes actual experience.

Those are the pilots words and he’s saying the messages are being misinterpreted and cherry picked without context.

That's not what it appears from context.

I read it as self-deprecation. Something people do to take the edge off of bad news.

He was joking, as if you'd be a professional F1 pilot and when testing a new car you would say "I suck at driving but this thing loses grip in the corners".

Think about it from a Dunning-Kruger perspective. The more you know about flying, the worse you think you are. The pilot is an expert and very experienced. He knows what he doesn't know.

He's acknowledging that even with all his experience, he could be wrong -- but clearly he wasn't.

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