The Dali news release by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reads a bit like ‘the Miracle of the Hudson Bay River’ (Captain Sully).

Linear, simplistic, exaggerated. Is this going to be another Hollywood blockbuster?

Some excerpts from the report and their meanings:

‘a single loose wire on the 984-foot-long containership Dali caused an electrical blackout that led to the giant vessel veering and contacting the nearby Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which then collapsed, killing six highway workers.’

Notice how chaos is explained as a linear cause and effect event.

‘The loose wire in the ship’s electrical system caused a breaker to unexpectedly open.’

Notice how the Antagonist that causes the chaos is located

‘The Dali, at almost 1,000 feet, is as long as the Eiffel Tower is high, with miles of wiring and thousands of electrical connections. Finding this single wire was like hunting for a loose rivet on the Eiffel Tower.’

Notice how the Protagonist hunts down and kills the Antagonist

‘Our investigators routinely accomplish the impossible, and this investigation is no different.’

That’s why Protagonists exist

‘But like all of the accidents we investigate, this was preventable,” Homendy said. “Implementing NTSB recommendations in this investigation will prevent similar tragedies in the future.’

That’s how the Protagonist brings order and saves us all

Here is a comparison between Dali and the ‘The Miracle of the Hudson Bay River’ narrative.

• Both accident narratives begin with chaos.
• In both cases, a Protagonist emerges (the investigation team in the Dali case and Captain Sully in the case of US Airways 1549).
• Both Protagonists possess Divine, Super-heroic, larger than life abilities.
• Both take the centre stage in overcoming obstacles against all the odds.
• And both lead from chaos to order and promise salvation.

Notice how the Protagonist prevails in both the accident narratives. It’s the Hero myth – a recognisable pattern of storytelling in the American culture borrowed from the Greek mythology.

I am not against the Hero myth. We are creatures of stories, and every culture creates its own myths to seek order in chaos.

My problem is in viewing the Hero myth as the ONLY reality. In other words, what the official investigation reveals becomes the universal Truth.

True learning comes from realising that even with the same facts and evidences, there will always be different perspectives of the same accident. When we accept this, we become better at learning, anticipating and managing the risk.

The Dali press release attributes a Godly figure to the investigation team. It is simplistic, linear, and if taken on its face value, another lost opportunity to learn from accidents.

Accident narratives are produced by subjective and biased humans. Be critical and keep an open mind.

Link to the report:
https://lnkd.in/epv5E68u

Recommended reading: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell