Defining Moments - aircraft accidents and flight safety - Brief Article

Combat Edge, Dec, 2001 by Kurt Dittmer

After attending the beautiful memorial service for a French pilot killed on an Operation SOUTHERN WATCH mission in Southwest Asia, I was asked how pilots deal with the loss of a fellow aviator. After some reflection, I realized it's never easy -- even though we deal with death more often than folks in other professions. Some people who witness a tragedy for the first time may change their behavior, or the way they view life, for the rest of their days. The tragedy for these people has become a "defining moment." A defining moment can occur anytime in our lives and doesn't have to be related to flying -- it is critical in our maturation process ... and important for our survival.

When I was young and inexperienced, I seldom thought about the consequences of my actions. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who acted like this. For instance, young motorcyclists ride without a helmet because of the feeling of freedom and openness it gives them; their view isn't constrained by the edges of a helmet and they can better feel their environment to quickly react to danger. Many probably feel they are invincible and don't need a helmet because they are good enough to avoid an accident. However, one has to realize they have not yet experienced a "defining moment."

A highway patrolman, who has investigated motorcycle accidents and seen the aftermath of head injuries and notified the parents of a teenager's death, will think differently than an inexperienced youth before riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Probably the first accident the officer investigated was the defining moment for him -- that first accident showed that no one is invincible and that there are serious consequences to our actions.

In the flying business, we must make life and death decisions often. Mistakes that result in accidents are catastrophic because of the tremendous speeds and the nature of the machines and the regimes in which we operate them. There is a fairly high probability that we will witness a fatality in our careers. How we react after seeing an accident is critical in our survival process.

My defining moment came as a lieutenant when I watched a good friend ride an aircraft into the ground. He was violating regulations and common sense, hit some power lines, and was killed instantly. The aftermath of the accident did not affect him -- his life ended in moments. He doesn't live with the memories of seeing a fireball or the tears of his pregnant wife as we tried to console her. He doesn't live with my guilt that maybe I could have prevented a friend's death. Perhaps I couldn't have prevented his death, only delayed it until another sortie, because I believe he had yet to experience a defining moment for himself.

That incident changed my behavior. I view flying differently than I did before the accident. I understand that the regulations are there for a reason -- most of them have been written in blood. The consequences of violating regulations and/or pushing the aircraft or ourselves outside of the "envelope" can be fatal.

My chances for survival went up after witnessing death because it changed my behavior. I matured and became a survivor.

Not everyone in the squadron reacted to the mishap in the same way I did. Some figured since they didn't violate regulations, they weren't in danger. Others tempered their actions and straightened up to fly right. Initially, we were all in shock. But operations must go on, and the leadership ensured that we jumped in the jets as soon after the accident as possible. As with all mishaps, pilots must overcome initial apprehensions by re-establishing competence and control over the machines they fly. But if we are smart, everyone close to the mishap learns from the experience and changes their behavior. In the safety business, we see it as education towards prevention of a similar accident. Sometimes technical orders or regulations must be re-written. Sometimes leadership must depart the realm of safety privilege and correct situations through disciplinary actions.

One pitfall that pilots must avoid is becoming callous after seeing too many accidents. There are few pilots flying jets that believe an accident could ever take their lives. Most believe it could only happen to the other person -- never them. It has to be that way. Survivors continually analyze mishaps to figure out what went wrong, who made mistakes and what caused the accident. That way, if we are ever put in the same situation, we will have already "experienced" it (if only in our decision-making process) and defined how we will survive that same situation. We add to our experience through other pilots' misfortunes.

Was our French comrade's life lost in vain? What did he do right? What did he do wrong? What can we do to enhance our probability of being a survivor if we are faced with a similar event or circumstance? Answers to questions like in these are important. We must always be open to redefining the actions we take life ... as we wait for our "defining moment."