By candidly recounting decision errors and near-misses, this section ultimately strives to improve cockpit judgment through awareness of cognitive limitations. While engineers continue to design smarter planes, the ability of pilots to make good decisions remains as critical as ever. Only with an understanding of our thought processes – and fallibility under pressure – can we develop countermeasures that minimize poor choices and maximize sound reasoning in flight. Through sharing stories of cognitive turbulence in the cockpit, this section ultimately aims to cultivate an “intelligent skepticism” that allows future pilots to recognize – and navigate around – the mental mechanisms that can cloud clear decision making at altitude.