Comair Jet crash

[Rocky Raab]

Hawkeye, slamming on the brakes is almost always the first thing a car driver thinks of - and does. That's perfectly normal, as that's about the only emergency procedure there is in a car.

But an airplane driver thinks differently. The entire object of a takeoff is getting off the ground. That's the default option, and that's what they'll attempt to do nine times out of ten if the plane is working correctly.

Two other factors come into play. One, it was dark, and they couldn't see what might be ahead of them off the runway (no obstacles in the sky, though). Two, planes have notoriously poor brakes and the smallest possible tires, made worse by the fact that the wings remove a lot of weight from the tires, and that further reduces braking power.

So, in their mindset, the solution to any non-airplane problem would be, "Get this mutha UP!" Trouble is, it doesn't always work...