Psychology Today | 18.10.2026 02:27
During World War II, B-17 bombers kept belly-landing because pilots were pressing the wrong switch. On the face of things, it looked like pilot error. Then a young psychologist named Alphonse Chapanis observed that two switches—one for the landing flaps and the other for the landing gear—sat next to each other and looked the same. A pilot worn out by hours of combat could easily reach for the wrong one as he came in to land. So Chapanis fitted a small wheel to the gear lever and a flap-shaped wedge to the flap control.
