Why the best take control; whilst the rest take orders.

On a cold and clear 15 January 2009 Captain Chelsey ‘Sully’ Sullenberger was flying US Airways Flight 1549 approx. 3000ft above the New York suburbs facing an unprecedented crisis having just lost all engine power due to a bird strike.

The decisions he made in the following 208 seconds decided the fate of all 155 onboard. Sully took control from his co-pilot, broadcast a mayday, told his co-pilot to initiate engine restart and began to dynamically assess emergency landing.

He quickly took the decision to land on the nearby Hudson (river). That decision proved instrumental in an outcome with no loss of human life. It was later proven by the investigators that any other course of action would have ended in disaster.

Those actions were later examined, and it was found that during the 208 seconds Sully never raised his voice or hesitated with his actions. He was a exemplar of calm, decisive, leadership that is thankfully rarely tested beyond the simulator.

Almost thirty years before (Dec '78), United Airlines Flight 173 was seconds away from touching down at Portland International Airport when warning lights indicted to pilot Malburn McBroom that there had been a catastrophic landing gear failure.

McBroom acted decisively and took control of the aircraft, aborted and alerted air traffic control. McBroom then calmly put the aircraft into a holding pattern and prepared the passengers and emergency services for a potential crash landing.

Flight 173 destroyed two houses and several acres of woodland when it ran out of fuel and crashed. Due to some exceptional flying only 10 out of the 189 lives onboard were lost. McBroom was stripped of his pilot’s license and retired.

McBroom had spent too long deliberating and this resulted in the aircraft running out of fuel. It was agreed by many that both pilots were competent, decisive, and good under pressure, but (for whatever reason) McBroom simply didn't delegate.

Even though McBroom had engineers, stewards and a co-pilot, he attempted to fix the landing gear, brief passengers and fly the plane. His micro-management proved too much for a single person and was instrumental in losing track of fuel.

When we look at Sully's actions we see a different picture. He had his co-pilot work on the engines whilst his cabin crew dealt with the passengers. This left him free to concentrate on how and where to land the plane without any loss of life.

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it". – H.E. Luccock

These stark examples caused a fundamental change in pilot training. Where as McBroom's highly directive approach had been encouraged prior to his demise; the change was to encourage autonomy: Crew Resource Management (CRM).

In essence, CRM is concerned with the interpersonal skills and leadership during routine flying. The belief is that a leader’s performance in a crisis hinges upon the culture that has been created before the anything has gone wrong.

CRM established what many must have suspected, do not lead without listening, or follow without questioning. This less authoritarian approach encourages crews to act and, as Sully's said, have ‘a shared sense of responsibility’ for success.

In summary, crisis leadership is a team game. When the time came, Sully's got to work whereas McBroom's needed direct instruction. What would your team do?