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Comment by quickthrower2 | Hacker News Reader

I really love the straightforward but gripping style of writing here. I read every word! Which is rare for anything submitted to HN (or elsewhere for that matter)

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I've been reading Admiral Cloudberg's write-ups for a few years since discovering them over on Reddit's r/CatastrophicFailure,[0] they're all truly excellent. I really enjoy his clear, no nonsense writing style.

What us failure analysis nerds need, what we deserve, is a 90s era Discovery Channel show written by Cloudberg. Either that or a a United States Chemical Safety Board[1] style series.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@USCSB

Not sure if you’ve heard about the podcast Cautionary Tales. It’s wonderful, especially if you like these kinds of things.

This is my first time hearing about it. Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a listen.

Who is the host? There are apparently a few podcasts with this title and I am confused

Not GP, but pretty sure they’re referring to Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford (the “Undercover Economist”), which is gripping, informative, and entertaining.

https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/cautionary-tales

Thank you!

I just discovered cloudberg a few months ago, on HN. I agree the writeups are amazing.

What I enjoy most is that frequently, the crash appears to have a clear “culprit” early on, then cloud berg points out 5-7 other factors, any one of which might have prevented the accident. If the series had a theme, I think it would be that airplane crashes are less about human failings than systemic ones.

That kind of thinking is useful when examining other system failures; AND it can be important to consider "let's assume this other factor had prevented the disaster, how could we have still identified the underlying 'cause'".

Because if your ass is being repeatedly saved by the equivalent of a $0.50 zip tie, you probably want to know that.

Thanks you made me read 2 more. And kept me up late! There is one where some safety feature highly recommended for all planes back in the 90s (I think), to identify and alert which engine failed, wont be added to 737s because you guessed it: type certification. It is fascinating and a bit scary.

I find a similar pace in the Air Crash Investigations series. Despite the low-budgeet filming and the actors who are clearly not allowed to speak, it goes into enough detail to be interesting without labouring the point.

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