[wheezer]

Listening to EyeWitnesses on radio right now.

Eyewitness accounts don't mean anything when it comes to airline crashes.

If you don't believe me, ask the people who witnessed the TWA 800 crash.

[John H K]

People are very resistant to this idea because "eyewitness" testimony has been built up to a level of infallibility in our legal system, but every psychologist knows that eyewitness reports are often ridiculously inaccurate, contradictory, and often worthless.

One common experiment is showing a short film with a car accident in a psych class and then quizzing the class afterward about the accident...even the most basic details are routinely botched, things that didn't occur are invented, etc. by completely sane and intelligent people.

The ONLY way eyewitness testimony is useful is through very careful, standardized interviews of a lot of people and then comparing the data.

BTW..as an aside..where the heck are people getting the idea that the Concorde crash is some sort of inexplicable mystery?