If you can keep your head...

[nineveh_uk]

I hope that if I am ever on a plane with one damaged engine and a window smashed in at 32,000 ft that my pilot sounds as frankly bored with a mundane day at work as Tammie Jo Shults does in this recording of yesterday's incident on Southwest Airlines while she is bringing the plane into land.

ATC: Is your airplane physically on fire?

Pilot: No, it's not on fire, but part of it's missing.

Isn't it a good thing that she persisted with her wish to become a fighter pilot after being turned down by the US Army (she joined the navy).

Comments

[caulkhead]

There is a whole section on 'deliberate calm' and how to achieve it as part of the merchant navy leadership qualification, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't the same in the air (presumably this is one of the reasons Martin Crieff failed his pilot exams five times).

Judging from some of the emails I get, not all my readers apply it off the bridge.

[nineveh_uk]

Not only a not great pilot, but a pilot prone to panic: definitely sounds a plausible reason for Martin to fail five times!

I like the idea of learning "deliberate calm", it would probably make me better at my rather less life-risking job.