One of my reader’s, Keith, was talking about the ability to spot deception with me and others a few years ago, and he brought up the idea that he thought this ability (which he demonstrates amazingly) might be related to pattern recognition.

I remember thinking how unique of a concept that was. It was very foreign to me.  I had to really think about it and while it made sense to me on a logical level, I just couldn’t grasp fully how I could be recognizing patterns.  I wasn’t able to articulate how I could be doing it if I was, but I was intrigued.

I actually suspected that Keith was on to something, but I couldn’t consciously connect the dots, or so I thought.

Just recently, with all the travel I am doing, I started noticing my thoughts about travel.

On my business trip to Hawaii, my husband tagged along to take some extra time off, and as we were flying over the ocean, I leaned over and said to him, “You hear how loud it got all of the sudden?”

He said yes.

I said that is the precursor that we are about to hit more turbulence.  I suspect it is the winds and they are blowing stronger.

I also learned that I would naturally calm down when the noise level dropped a bit, and I became conscious of the fact when that happened, the winds (cross winds?) subsided, and the turbulence reduced or stopped.  So if you are astute and pay attention to the noise level (it depends on where you are sitting on the plane as well), you can somewhat predict turbulence.

I didn’t think it at that time, but that was clearly pattern recognition. 

The next thing I became aware of with my frequent trips were the touch downs.  One time we had a rough landing and the pilot came on and apologize for the auto-pilot’s handling of the plane.  

Over another four to five flights, I started to notice when we had a rough landing; There was a distinct feeling to it. It was as if the plane couldn’t judge the last two feet accurately upon landing and  we seemed to hit with a hard bang versus when we fly with the pilot’s own hands we touch down so much more softly–even in rougher landings  with cross winds. 

There is a notable difference.

So I started testing my theory recently. I feel the landing and then upon disembarking the plane, I ask the pilot.

I might say for example, “That was an amazing landing!!  That wasn’t auto-pilot was it, that was you, yes?”

And I’m getting it right.  Time and time again. Last night, two pilots on two separate flights confirmed it was at the skill of their hands that graced us back down to earth.

And now I see pattern recognition.

On my trip this week to San Antonio, I flew an MD-80 and the first flight, I was unnerved by a loud noise as we approached the cloud layer.  I could hear the engines get louder and it was almost as if the noise of the engine and their angle/design caused the sound to refract back to the plane, which increased the engine noise level.  On landings, going through the cloud layer, it happened again.

And I noticed it on all three flights I took this week.

I was sitting over the wing in each so maybe it was the position of my seat–I’m not sure. I’m going to be curious to figure this one out! 

If you play close attention it’s amazing what you can glean from astute awareness.

Like when I run the water for a bath in the tub, I have learned to hear the differences between how hot water and cold water sound when they hit the bottom of the tub. They make two distinctly different sounds and while I could not identify which temperature was running by itself, I can hear the change when the water turns from hot to cold.

Just some tidbits from brain this morning.  Did you enjoy this?

I definitely think Keith is on to something!!