It’s worth being skeptical about Annie Jacobson’s account, but

Donald Sensing is seriously over-generalizing. It is not true as a

general rule that witnesses to traumatic events relate few details —

because both witnesses and traumatic events vary widely. Witnesses

whose professional training is to observe and relate (like cops, lawyers

and writers) are far better at detail than witnesses not expert in those

areas. Traumatic events that take four and a half hours to unfold are

also different in kind than bank robberies and other events that happen

bang-bang.

I have no quarrel with the notion that we all have prisms we

assimilate event through, but that does not necessarily mean either that

they trap us or that they are less relevant depending on how long we

observe what we observe.

Finally, yes her minute detail causes me pause, but Sensing is

skipping an important fact: according to her account, Jacobson had

hours to observe while speaking regularly with her husband, was

questioned on the plane by at least one flight attendant, was questioned

for hours by agents right after the flight, and had numerous follow up

conversations with airline and government people. That is, she was

exposed to people who were drawing her out at great length at a time

very close to the events. She may remember minute detail because of that.

I’m suspicious, but I would not be so quick to reject her account.