LSAT 106 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q19

LR Question 19 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: On a certain day, nine scheduled flights on Swift…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: Some of the flight cancellations were probably caused by non-mechanical problems.

REASONING: Most flight cancellations are caused by mechanical problems. Nine flights were cancelled. It’s not likely that more than one or two airplanes had mechanical problems on the same day.

ANALYSIS: Airplanes generally fly more than once per day. They’re expensive machines, and airlines don’t like to leave them sitting on the ground.

It’s possible that two planes each had 4-5 flights that were cancelled because the planes had mechanical problems.

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1. CORRECT. If only 1-2 planes accounted for all the cancelled flights, then it wouldn’t be unusual that both planes were kept out of the air for mechanical problems.
2. We don’t care about other airlines. Even if Swift Airlines has more mechanical problems than other airlines, it’s still unusual that more than 1-2 airplanes would be taken out of commission.
3. It doesn’t matter how long the flights were. If an airplane is out for mechanical reasons, it can’t make a flight of any length.
    
   And since we know nothing about other possible reasons flights could be cancelled, we have no idea what flight length would have to do with it.
4. The argument would be a bit stronger if Swift airlines had never had this many cancellations. That would tend to show that the cancellations weren’t due to typical mechanical problems.
    
   But the argument is still okay, even if Swift airlines has had this many cancellations before. The argument would only be weaker if Swift had had this many mechanical cancellations.
5. Actually, the argument would be stronger if the cancellations were at different airports. That would show it was likely that more than 1-2 planes were grounded.