Commercial passenger airplanes can be equipped

Answer choices

1. A

   Out of Scope: how passengers feel3% picked this

   Passengers feel no safer on airplanes equipped with the radar system than on comparable airplanes

   This argument is only concerned with whether passengers are actually safer. Whether they feel safer or not is immaterial to whether they are.

   3%
2. B

   Not Necessary6% picked this

   Warnings given by a collision-avoidance system about phantom airplanes are not caused by

   The author doesn't need to assume any particular backstory to what causes the phantom warnings. Maybe it's caused by distorted radar signals, maybe birds, maybe cloud cover, who knows. If we negate this and say that the phantom warnings are caused by distorted radar signals, it doesn't hurt the argument at all. We already know the phantom warnings happen. We're curious about the potential dangerous effects of those phantom warnings, not what caused them in the first place.

   6%
3. C

   Correct77% picked this

   The frequency of invalid warnings will not cause pilots routinely to disregard

   Why this is right

   Whenever we're doing Necessary Assumption and we see an answer ruling out an idea using language like "not / no", we get very enticed (tons of correct answers are structured that way). If we negate this, does it become an objection? the frequency of invalid warnings will cause pilots routinely to disregard the system's warnings.i Yes, that would definitely weaken. If pilots ignore the system's warnings, then there's no way the system could make the plane safer. In order for it do that, the pilot would have to be paying attention to and reacting to these warnings (and in doing so avoiding accidents that otherwise would have occurred).

   Skill tested: Necessary Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   77%
4. D

   Out of Scope: noncommercial planes2% picked this

   Commercial passenger airplanes are not the only planes that can be equipped with

   If we slow down and negate this "not", we get this: Commercial passenger airplanes are the only planes that can be equipped with this system. Does that weaken the argument? No, because the author can still coherently argue that "passengers are safer on airplanes equipped with this system". So what if those are only commercial planes?

   2%
5. E

   Too Strong; greatest risk12% picked this

   The greatest safety risk for passengers traveling on commercial passenger airplanes is that of

   The author doesn't need to assume that midair collisions is the #1 risk for passengers. Even if it were the #2 biggest risk, doing something to lessen that risk would still make us safer.

   12%