There is No Such Thing as a Perfect Flight
Perfection is not attainable, but if you chase perfection you will achieve excellence.
- Vince Lombardi
Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief.
- C.S. Lewis
Threat and error management is a critical part of airline pilot training. Pilots are taught that every flight has risk and that there is no such thing as a perfect flight. A key part of a pilot’s job is to identify potential threats to flight safety and any errors, perceived or actual, and prevent them from affecting the safety of the flight – to trap them. Fortunately, most “mistakes” pilots make are little more than minor errors that never compromise safety and are easily dealt with. While preventing mistakes from ever happening would be ideal, it is not realistic.
Threat and error management can easily be applied to life. A threat could be to your finances, health, safety, marriage. Let’s take that last one, marriage. A threat might come in the form of being offered a significant work promotion. That could be a great thing, but what if it meant more time away from your family? How much is too much? What if it also meant working closely with a group that was not faithful to their spouses? Choose wisely. I certainly do not want to imply that threats are everywhere and that you should live in fear with your head on a swivel, but being alert for possible threats is a good practice. They can be difficult to see coming and may initially be perceived as something good.
MISTAKES HAPPEN
With errors, pilots learn early in training to manage them. Throughout their career they must successfully complete numerous evaluations of their proficiency, known as checkrides. They can be stressful because a failure results in removal from flight duty and a permanent entry in their pilot record, where it lives for their entire career. When I was an instructor, prior to sending a student to a checkride I would do what I could to alleviate their anxiety. I ensured they understood they would make mistakes on the checkride, and when they made a mistake to address it, correct it, and keep moving forward. Do not give up and do not let the mistake affect the rest of the checkride.
Like a checkride or a flight, mistakes in life are also certain. You will NEVER be a perfect friend, student, spouse, parent, writer, woodworker, painter, etc. You will make mistakes. Learn from them and put them behind you. Constantly criticizing yourself for past mistakes and errors tends to precipitate the very thing you would like to avoid. (Vince Lombardi, a fountain of great quotes)
During the debriefing that follows every checkride, the pilot and the evaluator discuss the event, primarily focusing on areas where the pilot could improve. This same concept has clear applications to life. Periodic inventory of errors and how to improve is a key part of success. It is important to be teachable and to not allow pride to prevent you learning the lessons that mistakes offer. On the flight deck there is no room for pride because it interferes with identifying errors, correcting them, and learning from them. Pilots must focus on what is right, not who is right.
Throughout life, with errors or during “normal” life, put pride aside and take the time to learn as much as possible. The school of life can be expensive; you are paying the tuition anyway so you might as well learn. There is always something to learn from a mistake. Putting pride aside also allows you to discuss it with others, which will likely result in you learning even more. You will also be helping your friends and family (your crew) avoid the mistake or be better prepared than you were.
The best pilots take an inventory of their performance after every flight and work to identify what he could do better, including discussing it with their co-pilot if they need their insight. The pilots I have respected most in my career have been willing to share what they have learned, especially about mistakes, so their fellow pilots can avoid them. This practice elevates the safety of the entire industry.
It is easy for a pilot to get full of pride after a few near perfect flights, especially if the landings have been so gentle that the jet wasn’t even sure it was on the ground :-). (A “greaser” in aviation jargon.) And then he has a “pounder” and is quickly reminded of his mortality. Every time I have started to think, “Hey, I am pretty good at this”, it wasn’t long before I was humbled. For pilots, historical performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. If you have had a series of greasers, be careful; you may be due for a pounder.
RISK IS A REALITY
You can manage risk; you cannot avoid it. It is impossible to avoid all risk. As I write this, the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, with masks now commonplace. While the merits of masking are debated one thing is certain to me, the mask is a symbol of a culture that wants to live life risk-free. It is not possible to LIVE life risk free (vs. being alive risk free). Attempting to do so guarantees one thing – you will have quite a list of regrets on your death bed.
You will likely not achieve your potential, or maybe even anything worthwhile, if you are waiting until there is no risk, or you are certain that you are ready. There is only one way to find out if you are ready or not – take the risk. Get prepared, then release the brake and get underway toward your destination. A pilot cannot fly an airplane that never leaves the ground and the only way to ensure an airplane is 100% safe is to never fly it. What a waste.