Self-study
Commercial passenger airplanes can be equipped with a collision-avoidance radar system that provides pilots with information about the proximity of other airplanes. ███████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ █ ████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████████
Summary
The argument concludes that passengers are safer on airplanes with a collision-evasion system equipped, even though the system frequently warns pilots of phantom airplanes. This is supported by the premise that the system warns pilots to evade possible collisions.
Notable Assumptions
The argument assumes that the phantom warnings don’t create more danger than the system prevents. For example, that pilots don’t take dangerous evasion maneuvers in response to phantom warnings.
It also assumes that pilots actually respond to the system’s warnings frequently enough to avoid possible collisions. Otherwise, the system’s presence wouldn’t make much difference to safety at all.
11.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
Evasive action taken ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████████
Even if the pilots believe the false warnings, evading phantom planes poses no safety risk to passengers. Thus, the radar is entirely beneficial, which strengthens the author's argument.
b
Commercial passenger airplanes ███ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███████
This is irrelevant. We're comparing planes with a radar to planes without, but there's no difference while the planes are on the ground. So this doesn't tell us anything useful.
c
Commercial passenger airplanes ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ ███████
This still doesn't allow us to judge the radar's usefulness, or how likely a warning is to be true or false. So, this doesn't affect the argument.
d
A study by ████████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ████████
Most warnings are invalid, but do those invalid warnings pose safety risks to passengers? This doesn’t tell us, so it doesn't make any difference to the argument.
e
The collision-avoidance radar ██████ ██ ███ ██ █ ████████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███████
This explains the mechanism behind the radar, but it doesn't explain whether false warnings pose a safety risk. That means that without further information, it's irrelevant to the argument.