That moment is really the turning point,” Barbara Burian, a research psychologist at NASA who has studied Qantas Flight 32, told me. “Most of the time, when information overload occurs, we’re not aware it’s happening—and that’s why it’s so dangerous. So really good pilots push themselves to do a lot of ‘what if’ exercises before an event, running through scenarios in their heads. That way, when an emergency happens, they have models they can use.
Charles Duhigg. “Smarter. faster. Better”
Models help us choose where to direct our attention, so we can make decisions, rather than just react. Qantas Flight is referenced quiet often as one of the success stories for mental modelling in crisis situations.