The Swiss Cheese Model
As an avid viewer of Air Disasters reruns on the Smithsonian Channel, I've been trying to soak up every detail about the Washington regional jet-Army helicopter collision. But one comment by a Fox News guest sums up the whole situation: "It's our system that is bad and that's what has to be looked at. To be honest with you… we need to take a bulldozer to the front of the FAA. This is bad management, and it's putting us at risk," Boyd Group International President Mike Boyd said Thursday in reaction on "Mornings with Maria." "We had two flying machines run into each other over the Potomac. That is the FAA's job to avoid those things," he argued. "We have all kinds of human issues here. But the fact is, we've had near-miss after near-miss for the past 20 years. Now we've had a collision. The collision is the responsibility of the FAA and the air traffic control system. Somebody failed." Until late yesterda...