Red Herring

Webster's Dictionary defines a "red herring" as:

red herring n (15c) 1: a herring cured by salting and smoking to a dark brown color 2 [fr. the practice of drawing a red herring across a trail to confuse hunting dogs]: something that distracts attention from the real issue.

Obviously, it is the second definition that applies here! Attention was focused on the flight crew's experiments. This turned out to be a red herring in the investigation.

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