Laughter. The flu virus. Yawning. Fear. What do all these things have in common? They are all highly contagious. In fact, it is nearly impossible to be around any one of these things without experiencing some form of it yourself.
As rapidly as flu can pass from one person to another, my experience has been that fear in an airplane can spread even more quickly and be infinitely more dangerous. In his 1933 inaugural address, Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a nation in the throes of the greatest depression it had ever seen. He said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” expressing the sentiment that Americans’ fear over the economic situation would only serve to further paralyze the recovery efforts. Instead of spreading anxiety through word of mouth and media outlets, the American people needed a positive outlook and a solid plan to pull themselves out of a very large financial hole.
And so it is in the cockpit. When things go wrong, the last thing anyone needs is one pilot’s panic infecting the rest of the crew and passengers with a sense of uncertainty over the safe outcome of the flight. Instead, focus on the positive resources at your disposal and make a logical plan to get the airplane safely on the ground.
How do you avoid fearful reactions and panic when stress naturally causes your heart rate to rise and palms to perspire? You could try to emulate the behavior of someone who handles stressful situations well.
Consider Chesley B. Sullenberger, affectionately known as Captain Sully. On January 15, 2009, Sullenberger and his crew managed to successfully land an Airbus A320 on the Hudson River off midtown Manhattan after bird strikes disabled the aircraft’s engines minutes after departing New York’s La Guardia Airport.
When it became obvious that the airplane would have to make an emergency landing, Sullenberger is heard on the radio calmly working through his landing options with air traffic control. He first mentioned a return to La Guardia, then a possible landing at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, before finally deciding on the only possible area suitable for landing: the Hudson River.
We know how this story ends. Sullenberger took control of the aircraft and methodically worked through the checklists with his crew before making a perfect landing and safely evacuating all 155 passengers and crew before exiting the airplane himself.
Television news anchor Katie Couric asked Sullenberger how he managed to keep his cool when he realized he was in command of an airplane with no power, descending rapidly on one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. Sullenberger replied, “I knew I had to solve this problem…. The physiological reaction I had to this was strong and I had to force myself to use my training and force calm on the situation.” When Couric asked if that was a hard thing to do, Sullenberger said matter of factly, “No. I just had to concentrate.”
Here is what stands out about that response. Most people are shocked by emergency situations and even more surprised by their own body’s fearful response. When they feel their heart rate start to rise and breathing become rapid, panic sets in, rendering them no longer capable of thinking clearly and formulating a plan for survival. Sullenberger, though shocked by the bird strike, did in fact anticipate his fear and quickly began taking steps to mitigate his anxious reaction before proceeding to handle the emergency. He was able to spread a sense of calm, both on the flight deck and over the public address system when he told the passengers to brace for impact.
Survival expert Tim MacWelch describes a similar fear mitigation strategy in his wilderness survival blog. He writes, “You plan for bad luck, and you expect bad luck.” In other words, the key to survival in an emergency situation is to actually prepare for the worst-case scenario and expect it so you won’t be caught off guard and tempted to panic if your engine actually does quit seconds after takeoff.
So much of how you handle an emergency depends on how prepared you are before that emergency ever happens. A wise pilot gives an audible takeoff briefing before every single takeoff, whether or not he is alone in the cockpit. In this case, talking to yourself is not a sign of insanity, but rather the opposite: an indicator that a prepared, proactive pilot is at the controls.
A good takeoff brief should include not only the normal plan of action—for example, assigned headings and altitudes, et cetera—but also the contingency plan for safe landing sites if your airplane malfunctions at a low altitude after departure. Sullenberger is often described as being the perfect person to handle that particularly stressful situation because of his extensive training on emergencies and the fact that he had been an accident analysis expert—not to mention experience in gliders.
But why shouldn’t we all be that prepared? We don’t have to be survival experts, but a safety-minded pilot should certainly be a student of aircraft accidents as well as the emergency procedures for his or her airplane. Doing so not only allows you to take the right steps in an emergency situation, but it will also give you a sense of confidence during those high-stress times because you know you are fully prepared to handle most things the airplane or the weather can throw at you. Sullenberger confidently viewed the bird strike as a “problem to be solved,” not as a panic-worthy situation from which there was no way out.
Once the emergency situation actually arises, there are several things you can do in the heat of the moment to ensure the best possible outcome. Surprisingly the very first thing you must do is…nothing at all. Seriously, do nothing. Instead, take a deep breath and allow yourself a second or two to control your body’s naturally anxious response. Pilots who immediately start indiscriminately throwing switches are bound to make a bad situation even worse. Remember that you probably have more time than you think you do. So take a moment and assess the situation before you begin taking steps to remedy the problem.
Once you are certain of what your problem actually is, then you can consider all of your resources and proceed. The most important thing to keep in mind is to continue to fly the airplane, maintaining positive control at all times. If, and only if, you have the situation under control should you then take the time to notify air traffic control of your emergency and plan of action. ATC can be very helpful in an emergency situation by providing vectors to the nearest suitable airport or assisting in any number of ways. However, if they become too much of a distraction, remember that flying the airplane is your first priority.
Finally, once you are proceeding with the logical course upon which you have decided, picture the positive outcome that you desire, even if that outcome is simply being able to walk away from the accident. Don’t allow yourself to imagine the other possibility. Doing so will only bring fear and anxiety back into the cockpit and keep you from focusing on the task at hand.
Remember, your biggest resource in any stressful situation is your own mind. Surviving an emergency often depends on the pilot’s reaction to anxiety and stress rather than the actual nature of the emergency. Fear and panic can spread like wildfire through a cockpit, infecting everyone on board with a sense of dread about the outcome of the flight. Luckily for we pilots who handle stressful situations daily, there’s also something else that’s contagious: a calm, self-assured presence of mind that no matter what happens, we are more than capable of handling the emergency. In fact, the only thing we have to fear—is fear itself.
