A view from the cockpit

Taking off into the winds of change

Q.What's the difference between a pilot and a jet engine?

A. After the flight, the engine stops whining!

The old ones are always the best! Due to the nature of our profession however, it's fair to say that we take our fair share of knocks.

It will come as a surprise to nobody that in the last several months the airline industry has been dealt a huge blow alongside many other industries worldwide. In my 20 years flying career I have watched the effects of the Twin Towers disaster and the 2008 economic recession take a significant toll on the aviation industry. The most egregious of all these effects I would maintain are uncertainty and fear. This is as prevalent now as it was then.

Uncertainty and fear are common factors in all of the previous shocks in the industry. We try as human beings to take the little information that is available to us and extrapolate this into the future. What this means is that we have such little hard data to work with, from which to draw long term conclusions. As the old phrase goes, we are "temporarily unsure of our position".

In social media I see colleagues quite understandably commenting on the mess our industry is in. The negative words are many and various. There is however a more constructive way to re-frame our situation that may help you in the months ahead.

As well as being a pilot, I am also a licensed "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway Instructor". I understand fear and all the other myriad emotions that are linked to it. In times of uncertainty and perceived danger our conscious mind informs our unconscious mind that we are experiencing a "disaster". This is a false perception. We choose to use this word because for us, what we perceive is negative and immediate. Our own personal situation is not however truly as dire as the word implies. I quite literally feel your pain, but I know that it is borne of emotion and less out of a clear and present danger.

Disaster, noun : a sudden accident or a natural catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life.

Oxford English Dictionary

Our vocabulary is created by our imagination, our inner chatterbox, that little traitorous part of us that stores self doubt, lack of confidence, inferiority. The news of this perceived danger flows unfiltered to the unconscious mind, and via the amygdala in our brain, pumps out all those fight or flight hormones that are intended to deal with an immediate and physical disaster i.e. a fight with a tiger, escape from a crumbling building, fighting off an attacker with a knife. When we are looking to navigate ourselves through life we need clear heads and perceptiveness. We need good up to date information and the ability to logically and clinically assess our real situation and our next action. If we are clouded by stress hormones, and are physically brought low because we used overly dramatic language that suits our transient emotions, but not our true reality, we may make a less than optimal decision. We may divert to a closed airfield. We may chose a life path that does not truly fit with us. The words we utter and the ones we permit to linger in our minds can help us or hinder us. Words are important.

We are what we think. We are what we focus upon for extended periods. We are responsible for how we choose to frame a situation in our lives. If we call it a mess, it will feel like a mess. If we call it a challenge, our body sets ourselves up for a more prepared and calculated process of evaluation and response. Not just "Argh, get me out of here".

When we see things in their worst most damaging potential, this is called catastrophising. We may do this to protect ourselves as we imagine that preparing for the worst gives us a better chance of survival. Herein lies our real challenge. The choice between telling our mind that all hell has broken loose and living with the consequences, or choosing to re-frame our perception and to make relaxed and practical plans with the option to cater for a worst case event, should we genuinely consider it likely. It is our responsibility to choose how we feel about something. We have the power to change and re-frame our perception of our situation, not out of a naive desire to self delude but out of an ice cold mentality of controlling how we use our thoughts to get the very best out of a situation.

You may have seen the meme doing the rounds of Al Pacino, as the Mafia Don from the film "The Godfather". He sits at the head of a table, coolly and unemotionally watching as his fellow thugs argue about their next hit or scam. He evaluates each man's mannerisms, attitudes and gestures. He calmly watches over pandemonium prior to delivering his few ice cold words of authority. The title of the meme is "Be afraid of the calmest person in the room!"

So as we take off into the winds of change, we can choose to be like Cougar from Top Gun, or we could be Iceman.

All power to you as you find your place in this new world. You are far more powerful than you can imagine. Be you employed or not, you have the ability to find your way ahead calmly and with ice cold perception. Choose carefully the words you say to yourself and to others. "Cleared to start", right now.

https://feelthefeartraining.com/robinferrier/

https://www.facebook.com/rfonesmallstep/