WEBVTT - This Is Your Captain Speaking 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:15.796 Pushkin. 0:00:20.236 --> 0:00:23.156 A few weeks ago, when the leaves had just started 0:00:23.156 --> 0:00:26.156 to turn up here in Hudson, one of our revisionist 0:00:26.236 --> 0:00:30.596 history producers, Ben the daph Haffrey, came by the offices 0:00:31.156 --> 0:00:34.756 of Pushkin North in the grand tradition of revisionist history. 0:00:35.036 --> 0:00:37.916 He'd recently been flying around the country working on a 0:00:37.956 --> 0:00:42.516 story when an unexpected encounter got him thinking about something 0:00:43.036 --> 0:00:44.116 entirely different. 0:00:45.996 --> 0:00:48.516 I had a really unlucky day of travel a couple 0:00:48.556 --> 0:00:50.956 of weeks ago. I was in San Francisco and I 0:00:50.996 --> 0:00:53.276 was trying to get to Los Angeles. But I had 0:00:53.276 --> 0:00:55.476 to rebook my flight because of an urgent work meeting 0:00:55.516 --> 0:00:57.676 that got moved. And when I got to the airport, 0:00:57.756 --> 0:01:00.636 I realized i'd rebooked it two weeks after I was 0:01:00.636 --> 0:01:03.756 trying to fly and I was trying to save money. 0:01:03.756 --> 0:01:05.756 I got the cheapest ticket possible, so I could not 0:01:06.076 --> 0:01:08.356 change the fight, and so I just had to rebook 0:01:08.476 --> 0:01:11.076 on the cheap flight I could find, which was a 0:01:11.116 --> 0:01:17.156 Southwest flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles via Las Vegas, 0:01:17.796 --> 0:01:22.076 which makes no sense, absolutely no sense. So then I 0:01:22.076 --> 0:01:24.156 got on the air train going the wrong way. I 0:01:24.196 --> 0:01:26.356 wound up in this like median strip of the highway 0:01:26.516 --> 0:01:28.996 that was coming from a wedding, and my suit bag broke, 0:01:29.116 --> 0:01:32.236 my suit was flying all over the place, and just 0:01:32.276 --> 0:01:34.916 a bad luck day. But you know, I made the flight, 0:01:35.196 --> 0:01:37.076 wound up in Vegas and they had all these slot 0:01:37.116 --> 0:01:40.316 machines in the airport, just a dreadful airport. As you've 0:01:40.436 --> 0:01:44.116 recently pointed out, This was my first time in Vegas, 0:01:44.756 --> 0:01:49.036 and I had exactly one dollar in my pocket, and 0:01:49.116 --> 0:01:52.596 I thought, you know, my luck has been so bad, 0:01:53.316 --> 0:01:56.396 surely it's time for it to change. And so, having 0:01:56.636 --> 0:01:59.476 never played a slot machine before, I put the dollar 0:01:59.556 --> 0:02:03.996 in this like kung fu slot machine and just promptly 0:02:04.436 --> 0:02:09.316 lost it. Just lost my dollar entirely, so defeed it. 0:02:09.516 --> 0:02:11.916 I got on my flight on Southwest where they let 0:02:11.996 --> 0:02:15.436 you choose your seat, so I was just walking resignably 0:02:15.516 --> 0:02:19.356 down the aisle and then I see an open seat 0:02:20.036 --> 0:02:24.956 next to an off duty pilot, which suddenly made me 0:02:24.996 --> 0:02:27.956 think that my luck was changing, because I was like, 0:02:28.076 --> 0:02:30.756 here is a chance for me to finally ask a 0:02:30.836 --> 0:02:33.716 question that I have for a very long time been 0:02:33.756 --> 0:02:38.516 obsessed with answering. Yeah, why do all pilots have the 0:02:38.596 --> 0:02:39.356 same voice? 0:02:41.636 --> 0:02:45.556 Welcome to Revision's history, my show about things Overlooked and Misunderstood. 0:02:46.156 --> 0:02:50.836 Today's episode is a conversation with Ben Adaf Haffrey, digging 0:02:50.836 --> 0:02:54.956 into whether and why all pilots sound the same and 0:02:55.076 --> 0:02:59.076 what that might tell us about aviation and human nature. 0:03:05.356 --> 0:03:08.116 All Right, so I'm on this unnecessary flight from Vegas, 0:03:08.196 --> 0:03:10.876 Los Angeles, saying next to an off duty pilot who 0:03:10.876 --> 0:03:12.476 I had later learned was named Rob. 0:03:12.596 --> 0:03:14.196 Wait, how do you How do you know he's a pilot? 0:03:14.236 --> 0:03:15.796 So you know he's a pilot because he's got like 0:03:15.836 --> 0:03:18.996 the apolets on his shoulder, the stripes, short sleep button 0:03:19.036 --> 0:03:21.356 and shirt, and also a lanyard that said like Pilots 0:03:21.356 --> 0:03:24.636 Association or something like that. Yeah, you could, you could 0:03:24.636 --> 0:03:27.636 tell immediately. So I see my golden opportunity. And I 0:03:27.676 --> 0:03:29.836 asked Rob about pilot voice. 0:03:30.756 --> 0:03:32.636 Do you have a sense that all people think pilots 0:03:32.676 --> 0:03:33.516 have the same voice. 0:03:33.676 --> 0:03:40.156 I definitely have a sense that there's a idea that 0:03:40.236 --> 0:03:43.276 we kind of make certain noises on the intercome Jack, 0:03:43.316 --> 0:03:47.356 But it's this, I guess. My My first question to 0:03:47.396 --> 0:03:49.476 you is do you do you share this sense? If 0:03:49.476 --> 0:03:51.556 I were to ask you, what does a pilot sound like? 0:03:51.876 --> 0:03:53.596 Is there a voice in your mind? 0:03:54.316 --> 0:03:57.636 I mean, it's the it's the the analogy is to 0:03:58.116 --> 0:04:02.156 you know, in medicine, it's bedside manner, and what is 0:04:02.236 --> 0:04:06.276 bedside manner? A lot of bedside manner is just the 0:04:06.276 --> 0:04:09.116 the way in which the doctor addresses you. 0:04:09.676 --> 0:04:12.236 But there's not I don't feel like there is a 0:04:12.396 --> 0:04:14.956 doctor's voice in the same way as there is a 0:04:14.956 --> 0:04:18.596 pilot's voice. No, no, Like I think there's a cultural 0:04:18.676 --> 0:04:21.676 understanding of what a pilot sounds like that doesn't exist 0:04:21.756 --> 0:04:25.676 for hardly any other social role. I mean, so I 0:04:25.716 --> 0:04:27.676 was thinking about this. You have all these pilots in 0:04:27.716 --> 0:04:30.236 the media, like Quagmire on Family Guy. 0:04:30.836 --> 0:04:32.076 Good afternoon, ladies, and gentlemen. 0:04:32.116 --> 0:04:33.876 This is your captain, Glenn Quagmire. 0:04:35.276 --> 0:04:37.156 We're looking about a four and a half hour flight 0:04:37.236 --> 0:04:38.076 time today. 0:04:39.556 --> 0:04:43.236 Giggity Man Damon on thirty Rock, Well back. 0:04:43.316 --> 0:04:44.996 It looks like it's gonna be about another half hour 0:04:45.036 --> 0:04:45.556 and then we'll. 0:04:45.476 --> 0:04:46.156 Be on our way. 0:04:48.356 --> 0:04:48.556 Yeah. 0:04:48.636 --> 0:04:52.796 So the U sound is a universal component of pilot voice. 0:04:52.956 --> 0:04:55.156 Yeah, universal. And I mean this is the thing I 0:04:55.156 --> 0:04:58.916 talked about with Rob like he does OZ all the time. Okay, 0:04:58.956 --> 0:05:02.756 so where does that come from? I think there's some 0:05:02.956 --> 0:05:03.556 truth to it. 0:05:03.636 --> 0:05:07.196 I mean, obviously it sucks, completely true. But yeah, we're 0:05:07.276 --> 0:05:10.396 up there, we're multitasking, and we get get a little busy, 0:05:10.436 --> 0:05:13.356 and we're trying to make an announcement, and uh, you know, 0:05:13.516 --> 0:05:16.916 sometimes you don't really think about completely what you're gonna say. 0:05:16.956 --> 0:05:20.116 You know, the basics, but your brain's still putting it together, 0:05:20.196 --> 0:05:21.996 you know, so just human nature. 0:05:22.036 --> 0:05:24.076 You know, your brain's taking a pause. And in fact, 0:05:24.076 --> 0:05:26.396 he even copped to the fact that sometimes he does 0:05:26.396 --> 0:05:29.196 an extra long uh like he will actually draw out not. 0:05:29.756 --> 0:05:32.636 All right, I have a couple of times, not often, 0:05:32.676 --> 0:05:35.236 but I have kind of drawn that out on purpose 0:05:35.276 --> 0:05:39.476 whatever you would call that sound, just for fun, you know. 0:05:39.756 --> 0:05:41.316 But like you said earlier, I have no idea if 0:05:41.316 --> 0:05:44.316 anybody in the in the back laughed or even picked 0:05:44.396 --> 0:05:45.636 up what I was throwing down. 0:05:45.796 --> 0:05:51.076 You've like actually done an extra long uh ridiculously long. 0:05:51.356 --> 0:05:54.796 It's just enough to what's like an average line. 0:05:57.036 --> 0:06:00.116 Maybe, but you have to do it a little bit 0:06:00.156 --> 0:06:02.596 of a lower tone than that, though, you know, well, 0:06:02.636 --> 0:06:05.516 I just want like it's gotta have that lower lower tone. 0:06:05.716 --> 0:06:08.756 Oh God, rob Is, God said Rob Is. I. 0:06:09.316 --> 0:06:11.596 It had such a bad day. And then I sat 0:06:11.636 --> 0:06:13.876 next to Rob and I was like, I am I 0:06:13.916 --> 0:06:16.036 am being blessed right now. And I got off the 0:06:16.076 --> 0:06:17.596 plane and I swear to God. When I was at 0:06:17.636 --> 0:06:20.076 the baggage claim, I walked by these two people who 0:06:20.156 --> 0:06:22.316 were talking in LA and one of them was saying 0:06:22.316 --> 0:06:24.036 to the other person like, well, you know the ancient 0:06:24.116 --> 0:06:26.916 notion of the wheel at fortune right, And the guy 0:06:26.996 --> 0:06:28.436 was like, no, what's that. He's like, well, it's like 0:06:28.556 --> 0:06:30.476 Fortune's a wheel, so you have like your bad luck, 0:06:30.476 --> 0:06:32.076 and then it comes around to good lock. I swear 0:06:32.076 --> 0:06:34.076 to God. I just I was like, what is good 0:06:34.276 --> 0:06:36.916 you like die in Las Vegas? And then like this 0:06:36.996 --> 0:06:42.916 is just purgatory is bouncing between these two airports. But 0:06:42.956 --> 0:06:46.196 then when I landed in Los Angeles, I was like, 0:06:46.196 --> 0:06:48.916 I should actually figure out if it's just me having 0:06:48.956 --> 0:06:51.436 watched too many movies and not flown in enough planes, 0:06:51.876 --> 0:06:53.916 and talk to some people and see what they say. 0:06:55.156 --> 0:06:56.796 What does a pilot sound like? 0:06:59.396 --> 0:07:01.436 What does a pilot sound like? Yeah? Like is there 0:07:01.436 --> 0:07:06.356 a pilot's voice? Yes, it's going and robotic. It's used 0:07:06.596 --> 0:07:09.196 for impersonation. Oh you're gonna do it. 0:07:09.316 --> 0:07:14.836 I'm sorry ladies and gemen, please fasten your seatbelts. Apologize 0:07:14.836 --> 0:07:16.556 for the rough air, but we should be through it 0:07:16.556 --> 0:07:17.756 here in about ten minutes or so. 0:07:17.836 --> 0:07:19.796 And then you got to drag them out, like, aw, 0:07:20.516 --> 0:07:22.116 we should be riding about ten minutes or so. 0:07:22.716 --> 0:07:25.956 All the time is seven o'clock. All this consistent when 0:07:25.956 --> 0:07:28.556 you're when you're a sense of the pilot's worse. She'd right, 0:07:28.636 --> 0:07:29.396 it's like robotic. 0:07:30.636 --> 0:07:31.956 Typically they sound the same. 0:07:32.196 --> 0:07:34.156 I don't know how or why. 0:07:34.316 --> 0:07:37.196 Is it just they've heard other pilots do it and 0:07:37.236 --> 0:07:40.196 they feel this is how I've got to talk. 0:07:40.596 --> 0:07:43.956 What I'm wondering is like, do all pilots sound the same? Yes? 0:07:44.276 --> 0:07:44.996 They do? They do? 0:07:45.196 --> 0:07:47.716 They always say folks, folks. 0:07:48.036 --> 0:07:51.756 Yes, I think in general, yes, they have like the 0:07:51.836 --> 0:07:55.076 same type of tone, and they're all like pretty polished 0:07:55.076 --> 0:07:57.156 like whenever they come on like on like on the planet, 0:07:57.196 --> 0:07:59.356 like Banacom or whatever, they all sound the same. 0:07:59.916 --> 0:08:01.076 What does a pilot sound like. 0:08:02.556 --> 0:08:03.436 Like a robot? 0:08:03.916 --> 0:08:05.476 Do you think all pilots sound the. 0:08:05.396 --> 0:08:08.716 Same, Yes, except for the black ones. 0:08:08.556 --> 0:08:11.876 Except the ones? Interesting? What did they sound like? Lat 0:08:12.476 --> 0:08:13.476 and the rest sound. 0:08:13.396 --> 0:08:15.396 Like yo people? 0:08:15.676 --> 0:08:18.236 Yeah? 0:08:19.196 --> 0:08:21.396 Wait a minute, you know about what Tom Wolfe says 0:08:21.396 --> 0:08:22.596 about this and the right stuff. 0:08:22.996 --> 0:08:24.956 It's Jaeger. It's all Chuck Yeger. 0:08:25.156 --> 0:08:26.276 Yeah, racking the. 0:08:26.316 --> 0:08:29.436 Sound barrier, and the X one marked another milestone in 0:08:29.516 --> 0:08:34.116 av ah in history Good Time October fourteenth, nineteen forty seven, 0:08:34.276 --> 0:08:35.756 No Pilots Captain and. 0:08:35.836 --> 0:08:40.476 Chuck Jeger Chuck Yeger, the famous test pilot from West 0:08:40.516 --> 0:08:43.596 Virginia who in nineteen forty seven breaks the sound barrier. 0:08:44.356 --> 0:08:47.636 The X one was mine because I was trained in 0:08:47.716 --> 0:08:51.156 maintenance and I understood systems, and obviously he could fly 0:08:51.236 --> 0:08:54.276 an airplane. So Yeah, Tom Wolf writes The Right Stuff 0:08:54.356 --> 0:08:57.436 nineteen seventy nine. Later it becomes a big movie, and 0:08:57.516 --> 0:09:00.716 he identifies this phenomenon that all pilots sound the same 0:09:00.796 --> 0:09:03.756 and specifically attributes it to the sounding like Chuck Yeger. 0:09:04.276 --> 0:09:09.116 And in The Right Stuff, there's that moment where Yeah, 0:09:09.316 --> 0:09:15.996 played by Sam Shefferd says when he's dismissing astronauts, they're 0:09:16.076 --> 0:09:17.356 spam in a can. 0:09:19.716 --> 0:09:21.236 And it's pilot voice. 0:09:21.396 --> 0:09:22.036 Tell you what else. 0:09:22.076 --> 0:09:23.916 Anybody goes up and the damn thing is gonna be 0:09:23.956 --> 0:09:26.836 spam in a can. 0:09:29.276 --> 0:09:31.916 Actually brought the passage from the Right Stuff if you 0:09:31.956 --> 0:09:32.516 want to read. 0:09:32.396 --> 0:09:36.676 It, Okay, here goes Anyone who travels very much on 0:09:36.836 --> 0:09:39.556 airlines in the United States soon gets to know the 0:09:39.636 --> 0:09:43.436 voice of the airline pilot coming over the intercom with 0:09:43.516 --> 0:09:48.236 a particular drawl, a particular folksiness, a particular down home 0:09:48.356 --> 0:09:52.796 calmness that is so exaggerated it begins to parody itself. 0:09:53.316 --> 0:09:56.076 The voice that tells you, as the airliner is caught 0:09:56.116 --> 0:09:58.956 in thunderheads and goes bolting up and down a thousand 0:09:58.996 --> 0:10:02.236 feet at a single gulp, to check your seatbelts because 0:10:02.716 --> 0:10:06.036 it might get a little choppy. Who doesn't know that voice, 0:10:06.436 --> 0:10:08.836 and who can forget it even after he has proved 0:10:08.876 --> 0:10:12.676 right and the emergency is over. That particular voice may 0:10:12.716 --> 0:10:17.516 sound vaguely Southern or Southwestern, but it is specifically Appellationian 0:10:17.596 --> 0:10:21.236 in origin. It originated in the mountains of West Virginia, 0:10:21.356 --> 0:10:24.716 in the coal country in Lincoln County, so far up 0:10:24.716 --> 0:10:27.476 in the hollows that as the saying went, they had 0:10:27.476 --> 0:10:30.476 to pipe in daylight. In the late nineteen forties and 0:10:30.516 --> 0:10:34.476 early nineteen fifties, this up hollow voice drifted down from 0:10:34.516 --> 0:10:39.236 on high, from over the high desert of California, down down, down, 0:10:39.476 --> 0:10:42.796 from the upper reaches of their brotherhood into all phases 0:10:42.836 --> 0:10:48.636 of American aviation. It was amazing. It was pygmalion in reverse. 0:10:49.036 --> 0:10:53.076 Military pilots and then soon airline pilots, pilots from Maine 0:10:53.076 --> 0:10:56.756 and Massachusetts and the Dakotas in Oregon and everywhere else, 0:10:57.196 --> 0:11:00.356 began to talk in that poker hollow West Virginia drawl, 0:11:00.676 --> 0:11:02.716 or as close to it as it could bend their 0:11:02.796 --> 0:11:05.836 native accents. It was the drawl of the most righteous 0:11:05.876 --> 0:11:07.636 of all the possessors of the right stuff. 0:11:08.676 --> 0:11:16.796 Chuck ying the Tomolf is so. 0:11:17.116 --> 0:11:19.796 Just amazing, so good. 0:11:21.516 --> 0:11:24.916 He's just it's just like it's Tumolf is just the best. 0:11:25.036 --> 0:11:27.436 Yeah, And I like that. He's just you know, he 0:11:27.556 --> 0:11:30.636 was not in airports asking everybody if they agreed that 0:11:31.116 --> 0:11:33.076 all pilots sounded this way. He was just like, yeah, 0:11:33.436 --> 0:11:36.116 I got it. But I don't actually think that's a 0:11:36.116 --> 0:11:40.076 sufficient explanation for what pilot voice is, partially because like, 0:11:40.116 --> 0:11:42.556 when was the last time you you listened to Chuck Yeger. 0:11:42.676 --> 0:11:43.556 I don't think I ever have. 0:11:43.716 --> 0:11:48.316 I know, Sam Shepard, it's not the pilot voice. I 0:11:55.476 --> 0:11:59.716 believe there's some essential Jaeger nests that is preserved in 0:11:59.836 --> 0:12:02.436 the pilot's voice, but it's not like a note for 0:12:02.556 --> 0:12:04.716 note replication of that thing. 0:12:05.036 --> 0:12:10.276 You I'm as interested in a word choice. So folks 0:12:10.396 --> 0:12:11.556 is clearly. 0:12:12.236 --> 0:12:16.956 Huge there's a Someone at LAX also pointed this out specifically. 0:12:16.396 --> 0:12:19.796 What are other vocabulary choices that are central to pilot voice? 0:12:20.516 --> 0:12:23.836 Well, I think the euphemisms are huge. So the near 0:12:23.916 --> 0:12:26.036 miss Bumpierre, Choppier. 0:12:25.956 --> 0:12:28.916 Diminutives a little bit of turbulent, It got a little 0:12:28.916 --> 0:12:34.196 bit of Ye, it's not lackadaisical, but it is. They 0:12:34.196 --> 0:12:36.436 want to they do want to signal that these problems 0:12:36.476 --> 0:12:40.556 are so trivial that they can barely muster, you know, 0:12:40.636 --> 0:12:44.556 normal levels of enthusiasm to It's just everything's just kind 0:12:44.556 --> 0:12:48.596 of I've seen it all before, kind of Yeah, there's 0:12:48.676 --> 0:12:51.516 a Can I do a little thing about the evolutionary 0:12:51.956 --> 0:12:58.516 basis for a pilot voice? So stress, one of the 0:12:58.516 --> 0:13:03.996 things that stress does is raise your voice. Right, So 0:13:04.156 --> 0:13:08.356 one of the signatures of someone who is under a 0:13:08.356 --> 0:13:11.236 great deal of stress, for experiencing a high anxiety moment, 0:13:11.676 --> 0:13:14.636 is their voice rises in is it pitch? 0:13:15.356 --> 0:13:18.676 It's also probably like I bet your vocal cords titan, 0:13:18.716 --> 0:13:20.196 and then you become less resonant. 0:13:20.356 --> 0:13:25.156 Yes, So I would suspect there's and so we're conditioned 0:13:25.156 --> 0:13:29.716 evolutionarily to interpret somebody with a kind of a high 0:13:29.876 --> 0:13:36.276 fast speech cadence as being terrified. So the pilot necessarily 0:13:36.356 --> 0:13:39.916 has to be the person who speaks slowly and low 0:13:40.036 --> 0:13:42.356 if he's trying to communicate calm. 0:13:42.556 --> 0:13:44.876 You think you think people are you're you think people 0:13:44.916 --> 0:13:48.116 are making hires based in part on whether or not 0:13:48.196 --> 0:13:49.796 you have the right pilot voice. 0:13:50.636 --> 0:13:54.316 We already know that in every other job some aspect 0:13:54.356 --> 0:13:58.876 of physical presentation matters hugely and who gets who gets 0:13:58.916 --> 0:14:02.996 hired or not right, So when it comes to hiring pilots, 0:14:03.796 --> 0:14:06.636 you would be if you're the hiring person even unconsciously 0:14:06.716 --> 0:14:12.516 powerfully disposed to hire someone who who conformed to pilot stereotype. 0:14:13.076 --> 0:14:14.956 I mean, look at the way that there was a 0:14:14.956 --> 0:14:17.116 whole separate set of things for years that governed what 0:14:17.156 --> 0:14:18.076 a stewardess. 0:14:17.756 --> 0:14:18.276 Was supposed to be. 0:14:18.316 --> 0:14:19.956 A flight atten was supposed to be right, it was 0:14:20.236 --> 0:14:23.956 right down. They would like measure there. They would do 0:14:24.036 --> 0:14:26.996 body measurements of women who are trying to be flood 0:14:26.996 --> 0:14:29.356 attens in the You had to look a certain way, 0:14:29.436 --> 0:14:32.436 have a certain shape, you know, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. We 0:14:32.476 --> 0:14:35.596 don't think that applies to pilots, the one actually flying 0:14:35.596 --> 0:14:36.076 the plane. 0:14:36.276 --> 0:14:38.596 Well, like a lot of the pilot voice thing, the 0:14:38.636 --> 0:14:40.996 first thing people say is is just the speakers. And 0:14:41.116 --> 0:14:43.476 the second thing people say is is because they're all 0:14:43.516 --> 0:14:44.036 white guys. 0:14:44.116 --> 0:14:47.356 Yeah, the most hierarchical institutions in our society are still 0:14:47.396 --> 0:14:51.316 all dominated by white guys, particularly tall, tall, middle aged 0:14:51.356 --> 0:14:54.316 white guys. That's what CEOs are, That's what pilots are, 0:14:54.396 --> 0:14:58.436 that's what neurosurgeons are, that's what you know presidents are. 0:14:58.596 --> 0:14:59.756 That's what I make it go on. 0:14:59.836 --> 0:15:02.756 It's like, yeah, the same stereotyping and bias is applied 0:15:02.796 --> 0:15:06.836 in piloting, and it is statistically true, like about ninety 0:15:06.876 --> 0:15:09.116 five percent of pilots are white and about ninety five 0:15:09.116 --> 0:15:11.556 percent of pilots are male, at least as of twenty 0:15:11.596 --> 0:15:16.036 twenty two numbers. That is changing, but historically it has 0:15:16.116 --> 0:15:19.196 always been a very white male profession and it continues 0:15:19.236 --> 0:15:22.156 to be so. But like, not every white guy sounds 0:15:22.196 --> 0:15:24.876 the same. And similarly, a lot of pilots were in 0:15:24.916 --> 0:15:27.436 the Air Force, but not every veteran sounds the same. 0:15:27.836 --> 0:15:32.836 So this has some explanatory force, but not total explanatory force. 0:15:33.196 --> 0:15:36.436 There's still some weird extra kind of convergence happening even 0:15:36.436 --> 0:15:39.836 within this group. So this is where I think this 0:15:39.916 --> 0:15:43.076 all leaves us. There is an idea at least that 0:15:43.116 --> 0:15:45.636 there is a pilot voice. Tom Wolfe says it's Jeger, 0:15:45.876 --> 0:15:47.916 But I really don't think it's enough to say that 0:15:47.996 --> 0:15:50.916 all pilots are imitating Chuck Yeger. I mean, it is 0:15:50.996 --> 0:15:53.156 clear to me that there's an attitude of Jaeger that 0:15:53.196 --> 0:15:56.796 has been preserved, but it's not really his voice. And 0:15:56.876 --> 0:15:59.396 I mean Rob had not even heard Chuck Yeger. 0:15:59.836 --> 0:16:02.556 I certainly don't know what his voice sounded like. I can't, 0:16:02.676 --> 0:16:03.476 I can't think of it. 0:16:05.796 --> 0:16:06.196 Yeah, I. 0:16:07.996 --> 0:16:13.756 Don't think it was anything that I consciously was doing. 0:16:13.796 --> 0:16:17.036 But I think you've got me thinking maybe I dropped 0:16:17.076 --> 0:16:20.556 my voice down a pitch. I think I do they 0:16:20.556 --> 0:16:21.516 even realize? 0:16:24.996 --> 0:16:28.916 So something's up. It's not just Chuck Yeger. What I'm 0:16:28.956 --> 0:16:32.476 interested in is what does that voice represent and how 0:16:32.516 --> 0:16:34.276 did it happen that they all sound alike. 0:16:35.556 --> 0:16:48.316 We'll be right back. Can do another analogy here, believe. 0:16:48.396 --> 0:16:50.796 So I was thinking about this as you're talking, which 0:16:50.836 --> 0:16:58.396 is there's a whole literature on contrition in the cases 0:16:58.436 --> 0:17:03.676 of accused criminals. So you're in court, you're making your statement, 0:17:03.836 --> 0:17:06.996 or you're talking and jury's listening. One of the things 0:17:06.996 --> 0:17:11.876 that jury's way that heaviest is whether or not they 0:17:11.916 --> 0:17:17.436 feel like the accused is displaying contrition. Right, they have 0:17:17.476 --> 0:17:21.996 an expectator, there's an expectation about a certain mode of 0:17:21.996 --> 0:17:26.796 self presentation. Now, no one really knows what contrition looks like. 0:17:27.436 --> 0:17:29.916 Is there actually isn't you know? We know what happiness 0:17:29.956 --> 0:17:32.156 looks like, we know what anxiety looks like, we know 0:17:32.196 --> 0:17:34.956 what anger looks like. We don't really know what contrition 0:17:35.116 --> 0:17:37.596 looks like. All we know is that contrition is really, really, 0:17:37.636 --> 0:17:45.276 really important, and in its absence, juries deliver much harsher penalties, 0:17:45.396 --> 0:17:47.756 much more likely to call you guilty, or the judge 0:17:47.796 --> 0:17:49.316 is much more like col to give you a long sentence. 0:17:49.836 --> 0:17:52.596 So there's a kind of this is there's a feedback 0:17:52.636 --> 0:17:56.116 loop between the party that's giving a presentation and the 0:17:56.116 --> 0:17:59.036 part is listening, And I wonder what the pilot is 0:17:59.076 --> 0:18:05.116 expected to communicate? Is competence and reassurance? Right now? Do 0:18:05.876 --> 0:18:07.996 we have a formal definition of what those things are? 0:18:08.276 --> 0:18:10.596 Not really known, not not any more than we do 0:18:10.716 --> 0:18:13.716 for contrition. But that doesn't mean that we don't spend 0:18:13.716 --> 0:18:16.996 a huge amount of time communicating it. And we kind 0:18:16.996 --> 0:18:18.636 of know it when we you know, this is a 0:18:18.716 --> 0:18:20.116 vague thing that we know of when we see it. 0:18:20.356 --> 0:18:22.716 People certainly can say he did not you hear all 0:18:22.716 --> 0:18:24.916 the time Jerry's saying it. 0:18:24.636 --> 0:18:26.876 Did not seem right? Contrite right? 0:18:27.116 --> 0:18:29.796 Anyway, This is all like a long way of saying, 0:18:29.836 --> 0:18:33.156 is there is this? Like I would just I agree 0:18:33.196 --> 0:18:34.676 with everything I say, I would just say I would 0:18:34.676 --> 0:18:38.476 add this that it's a loop with the audience expectation. 0:18:39.236 --> 0:18:42.436 Well, so there are these clear ingredients in the pilot 0:18:42.516 --> 0:18:45.316 voice as it's used by pilots and expected by passengers. 0:18:45.316 --> 0:18:48.196 You got the drawn out oz, the slow pace, maybe 0:18:48.236 --> 0:18:50.196 a bit of southern drawl. But I want to get 0:18:50.236 --> 0:18:53.436 into the mechanisms by which a whole profession could converge 0:18:53.476 --> 0:18:57.236 on a specific voice. So I talked to this speech psychologist, 0:18:57.356 --> 0:19:01.436 Jennifer S. Pardo, who's the director of the Speech Communication 0:19:01.596 --> 0:19:04.956 Laboratory at Montclair State University, you know, called her up, 0:19:05.076 --> 0:19:07.156 said I want to talk to you about pilot voice. 0:19:07.316 --> 0:19:07.956 Ever hear of it? 0:19:08.556 --> 0:19:12.436 I actually asked my husband about it yesterday. He used 0:19:12.436 --> 0:19:16.636 to actually do flight training for a while, just you know, 0:19:16.756 --> 0:19:19.676 as a hobby, and he said, oh, yeah, there's definitely 0:19:19.876 --> 0:19:23.596 definitely pilot voice. Well, what did he and he's like, oh, yeah, 0:19:23.636 --> 0:19:27.436 it's totally from Chuck Yeager. Yeah, he definitely felt like 0:19:28.076 --> 0:19:31.596 there was I wouldn't say pressure, but he definitely felt 0:19:31.636 --> 0:19:36.036 the need to get into this mode of speaking when 0:19:36.076 --> 0:19:38.996 he was in flight training, to you know, to show 0:19:39.076 --> 0:19:39.756 that he was. 0:19:39.796 --> 0:19:42.756 Part of the group here. I was like, really, why 0:19:42.756 --> 0:19:43.316 did you never. 0:19:43.356 --> 0:19:44.196 Tell me this? 0:19:46.196 --> 0:19:50.156 So Jen specifically works on something called phonetic convergence and 0:19:50.316 --> 0:19:55.916 also communication accommodation theory, which is basically it's this, it's 0:19:56.236 --> 0:19:59.876 a theoretical frame for a thing that most of us experienced. 0:19:59.876 --> 0:20:02.276 Like you go to London as an American, You're there 0:20:02.316 --> 0:20:03.916 for two weeks, and by the end of the two weeks, 0:20:03.916 --> 0:20:07.116 you start maybe there's some British mannerisms work their way 0:20:07.116 --> 0:20:11.996 out your speech. Communication accommodation is the study of the 0:20:12.036 --> 0:20:14.956 way what the mechanism of that is, how you sort 0:20:14.996 --> 0:20:18.276 of modify your way of speaking to belong to an 0:20:18.276 --> 0:20:20.676 in group or to distinguish yourself from an out group. 0:20:20.996 --> 0:20:23.276 And for pilots, it's something that could be happening basically 0:20:23.356 --> 0:20:26.116 unwinningly because of how much else they're doing in the cockpit. 0:20:26.276 --> 0:20:29.876 So research and pinetic convergence is trying to really pinpoint 0:20:30.596 --> 0:20:34.716 some of these internal cognitive mechanisms and how they play 0:20:34.756 --> 0:20:37.756 around with each other, and this idea of cognitive load 0:20:37.796 --> 0:20:41.156 and multitasking. Right, if it's an automatic process, it's something 0:20:41.596 --> 0:20:44.956 that would be harder to suppress when you're multitasking. 0:20:45.476 --> 0:20:48.956 Jen studies this. So she actually looked at like roommates 0:20:48.956 --> 0:20:52.356 who live together in college and their does the way 0:20:52.396 --> 0:20:54.876 they speak converge over the course of a semester, which 0:20:55.476 --> 0:20:58.836 often it does, But she said an interesting thing, which 0:20:58.916 --> 0:21:01.756 is we tend to think of communication as a one 0:21:01.796 --> 0:21:05.556 way thing, like broadcasting functionally, but it is it is 0:21:05.596 --> 0:21:07.356 a two way thing. So half of it is how 0:21:07.356 --> 0:21:09.876 you're communicating. Half of it is how you're being perceived. 0:21:10.396 --> 0:21:12.356 Like if you really were to look at it, like 0:21:12.596 --> 0:21:15.116 really really look at it, like take you know, take 0:21:15.156 --> 0:21:19.756 a recording, compare the recording right to other recordings, put 0:21:19.796 --> 0:21:23.236 it in a scientific setting, in a scientific experiment, you'd 0:21:23.276 --> 0:21:28.876 probably find more differences than similarities, but the similarities matter 0:21:29.596 --> 0:21:34.636 maybe more. Right, So there is this other thing going 0:21:34.676 --> 0:21:39.676 on where socially or psychologically, because we believe it to 0:21:39.756 --> 0:21:44.356 be true, we look for evidence that it's true every 0:21:44.356 --> 0:21:47.036 time we hear it. And if we don't get the 0:21:47.076 --> 0:21:50.596 evidence from one aspect of the way the person is talking, 0:21:50.956 --> 0:21:53.316 we might see it in another aspect of the way 0:21:53.356 --> 0:21:55.796 that the person is talking right. If it's not there 0:21:55.796 --> 0:21:58.996 in the vocabulary, it might be there in something about 0:21:59.036 --> 0:22:01.996 the sentence structure. Or it might just be that they 0:22:01.996 --> 0:22:05.916