Logical Reasoning

PT103 · S2 · Q11 Commercial passenger airplanes can be equipped

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Commercial passenger airplanes can be equipped with a collision-avoidance radar system that provides pilots with information about the proximity of other airplanes.

Conclusion

Passengers are safer on airplanes equipped with the collision-avoidance radar system than on comparable airplanes not so equipped.

Evidence (because)

Collision-avoidance radar systems provide pilots with information about the proximity of other airplanes and warn pilots to take evasive action when a possible collision is indicated.

Evaluate

This argument asserts that despite frequent false alarms (phantom warnings), airplanes with the system are safer than those without it. The conclusion relies on the assumption that these false warnings do not negate the safety benefits of having the system.

There are a couple of ways to strengthen this argument: we can increase the plausibility that the system's benefits (real collision avoidance) outweigh its downsides (phantom warnings) or show that even when responding to false alarms, the system doesn't pose additional risks.

We could think of this as a Plan / Goal type conversation: GOAL: make planes safer, by avoiding collisions PLAN: system warns pilots take evasive action when a collision is imminent

The Plan assumes that pilots will hear these warnings, be willing to take evasive action in response to the warning, and be able to safely take evasive action.

Goal

We want an answer that supports the claim that airplanes with the collision-avoidance radar system are indeed safer, regardless of the frequent phantom warnings.

11.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

  1. Correct

    Evasive action taken in response

    Why this is right

    This strengthens by ruling out an objection. If the system is giving warnings of an imminent collision (often false alarms!), then the pilots will be quickly swerving the plane in a different direction, which is potentially a dangerous mid-air move. This reassures us that the evasive actions do not pose any risk to passengers, so then even false alarms don't detract from passenger safety. Thus, the system's warnings, even if frequently false, contribute to added safety because they can provide useful real warnings without increasing danger when evasive actions are unnecessary.

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

    84% picked this

  2. Commercial passenger airplanes are in

    No Impact

    Whether airplanes are in greater danger of colliding on the ground than in flight is unrelated to the effectiveness of the radar system during flight, which is when the system is primarily used. The discussion is focused on in-flight safety, not on-ground collisions.

    1% picked this

  3. Commercial passenger airplanes are rarely

    No Impact

    Stating that airplanes are rarely involved in collisions while in flight does not impact the relative safety provided by the system. Even if only 2% of flights were involved in collisions, and this radar system brought it down to 1%, then it would have succeeded in making things safer. This fact about all planes does not address the comparison between airplanes equipped and unequipped with the new system.

    4% picked this

  4. A study by ground-based air

    Opposite Impact

    Saying that a majority of the warnings that this system spits out are false alarms makes it sound like a bad system. Not only would we worry that pilots were endangering the plane by taking evasive action in response to a false alarm, but we also might worry that pilots learn to ignore the system's warning since the warning are usually bogus in the first place.

    1% picked this

  5. The collision-avoidance radar system is

    No Impact

    This information about how the radar system operates doesn't tell us how this functioning impacts safety specifically. Understanding its operational mechanism doesn't confirm or deny the added safety claims.

    9% picked this

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