Re the calm pilot - at the beginning of The Right Stuff, chapter 3: Yeager - there’s a description of how airline pilots sound:
It goes on about how the pilot makes what seems like a major impending likely crash to sound like nothing much is going wrong. When I read about Tammie Jo, it was the first thing I thought of.
At the end it basically says that pilots modeled themselves after Chuck Yeager so they all used his drawl.
When you listen to the ATC and even cockpit recordings the first impression is how calm they sound. I think there are two main reasons:
We know that disaster looms but they don't! They've probably been in and made it through other situations, so there's no instant panic.
They're in control of the plane, are trying to figure out what's going wrong, and trying to find a place to set down. Basically, they're mentally busy trying to solve the problem.
I’d compare it to you or me pulling up to a serious car wreck with mangled people laying around. I’d be a deer in the headlights … while an EMT would know what was important right away. The one airplane disaster scenario that still baffles me is an error on takeoff from a carrier (e.g. catapult or engine failure). Those pilots only have a fraction of a second to evaluate the problem and decide to punch out.
They’ve also been through a lot of simulator training in their careers if not actual prior emergency situations. Every 6 months they train at simulators for a couple of days. Pilots undergo more ongoing training than most jobs I can think of. That training pays off.
I had a student a couple of years ago who went on to become an Air Force pilot. Having seen him in (mildly) stressful situations, I was able to mention in a recommendation letter that his natural response to stress was the kind of calm and collected approach that seemed compatible with aviation standards. (His father was a naval officer; perhaps there was childhood influence?)
I’ve seen that same kind of calm at the hospital with certain doctors and nurses. I remember getting a patient once directly from the cath lab. As soon as we got him into the bed and connected the ekg leads and other equipment, his eyes rolled back in his head and he was down. One of our very young but top cardiologists just happened to be walking in at that moment. It wasn’t his patient. Someone shouted to the unit secretary “call a code!” He sat his coffee down and said very calmly, “Ok, folks what do we have here? Right. Ok, people, let’s get the crash cart in here and put this guy on a back board. Doug, start CPR please. Judy, please record. Steve, get the ambu bag and start giving rescue breathing. Lisa, please take care of drugs. Brandon, get the defibrillator ready please.” And away we went, just as methodical as could be with the doc’s cool, soothing direction.
The doctor who had worked on him in the cath lab had heard the overhead code blue called and knew it was his patient. He had raced upstairs to see, and looked quite in a panic. He didn’t try to take over the code.
We got the patient back into a sustainable rhythm and sent him back to the cath lab. Dr. Cool Cucumber said “well, I don’t need this anymore” and tossed his coffee into the sink. He chuckled, and then went about his day. I guess his calm demeanor belied his inner feelings to a degree, but he was exactly the person we had needed at that moment. I saw similar calm leadership at times of stress while working there, but just as often, saw people who didn’t handle the crises near as well. One doctor went into deer into headlights mode in a procedure room, and according to people there, wouldn’t/couldn’t give any directions at all. The same young whippersnapper came in, told the doctor what to do in that situation, then did it himself when the doctor didn’t respond.
Needless to say, I always refer my friends/family to Doctor Cool Cucumber.
@marilyn, good point. I just thought if I was listening to what she was saying, I might not appreciate how bad the situation was. That said, I would far, far prefer a pilot who was too calm than one who was panicking!
There is also that safety information card in the seat pocket that you can read before the flight leaves (or even if the masks drop and you need instructions on how to put it on).
I had wondered if the woman who was killed was wearing her seat belt. I guess a part of me hoped she wasn’t, so that it would seem this is something we as passengers could prevent.
Scary, horrific, tragic…
Those two passengers near her will probably have nightmares for life.
She was wearing her seatbelt, and the passenger who desperately tried to pull her in believes that it was the seatbelt that prevented her from being sucked out completely. Imagine what would have happened next… the teen sitting between them… Also, if the belt is worn loosely, it might be less effective.
Bottom line. Don’t discount seatbelts!! While engines blowouts are extermely rear, turbulence happens and can injure you! I am sure the folks on that Russian airline flight that got shaken up badly regretted not wearing theirs. Many, many injuries resulted.
The cool cucumber doc sounds like my friend’s MD husband. He was operating on a patient and noticed he was having a heart attack. He calmly asked a nurse to call the ER and tell them he was proceeding there as soon as he finished the the patient he was operating and to please have the cardiac team ready. He then calmly finished the surgery and got to the ER where the cardiac team confirmed he was having a heart attack and saved his life!
@conmama, I was able to read that article at no charge. It says she probably died instantly, so hopefully had no pain. I will likely continue to be seated at the window by the airlines and am fine with that. This is a VERY rare and sad occurrence.