Why This Industry Is So Good At Not Repeating Mistakes

Over the years, I have shared numerous leadership insights from the aviation industry. These include the communication principle of Aviate, Navigate, Communicate , and the value of fixing things before they break. ?

We recently saw a dramatic example of another strength of the airline industry: the ability to learn from and improve upon mistakes. The industry has an incredible track record of making improvements after accidents, often responding by creating significant safety protocol enhancements and emergency procedures.??

Last week, Japan Airlines Flight 516 collided with a Japanese coast guard aircraft on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport during its landing, sparking a major fire. While the crew of the coast guard aircraft tragically perished, the crew of Flight 516 managed to evacuate all 379 passengers in just 18 minutes. This is an astonishing feat given that the plane was rapidly engulfed in flames and ultimately reduced to rubble.?

The Flight 516 crew’s responsiveness and heroism is likely the product of painful lessons learned from past tragedies. For example, in 1980 Saudia Flight 163 had a successful emergency landing after a fire in the cargo hold; however, the delay in evacuation led to the loss of all 301 people on board. This incident became a turning point in emphasizing the need for cabin crews to decisively lead evacuations.??

Another salient example was the 1985 Manchester Airport disaster, where 55 people were killed due to an engine fire during an aborted takeoff. This tragedy led to significant structural design changes in standard aircraft, such as more accessible exits, illuminated floor paths, improved exit signs, and cabin materials that emit less toxic smoke. Not surprisingly, all these features were on the relatively new Airbus A350-900 jumbo jet that was evacuated during Flight 516.?

The rescue of Flight 516 is a testament to the aviation industry's commitment to continuous learning and improvement. From meticulous emergency response drills to designing aircraft for rapid evacuation, every facet of the aviation industry undergoes constant refinement and training to avoid needless disasters. Plus, these safety measures often spread—airlines will share their best practices with competitors, with all players working together for the greater good.?

Our greatest strength is not an ability to achieve perfection, but a capacity to continuously learn, adapt, and prepare for future challenges. The story of Flight 516 is not merely a tale of disaster averted; it's an example of how history’s darkest moments can guide us to create a better future and avoid repeating our mistakes. To that end, I expect this crash will likely lead to new protocols in the coming months and years to prevent the type of runway confusion that caused the accident.?

We can apply this learning approach widely to our own lives and professions. We are often reluctant to thoroughly analyze our failures or to invest in preparation for unlikely events—including ones we have experienced before. However, the aviation industry's example shows that while life is unpredictable, it is possible to anticipate and prepare for disaster, and it is even more feasible to avoid making the same mistake twice—or to mitigate the damage if we do.??

To apply the aviation industry’s approach to learning from history, several steps are necessary:?

• First, we must objectively acknowledge what went wrong, setting aside the urge to assign blame and instead pursue the truth, whatever it may be.?
• Second, we need to concur on the improvements that could have prevented those mistakes or mitigated the damage.?
• Third we need to then alter policies and protocols and ensure the necessary people are trained in them.?

Only after we do these three things can we avoid needless failures and disasters.?

What actually disappoints me the most about the COVID-19 crisis is that –after four years, millions of lives lost and trillions of dollars spent on the response--I don’t believe there is any consensus on what should be done differently next time. No one has been willing to admit where they were wrong with the benefit of hindsight, even if those decisions were based on fast-moving, incomplete information. This lack of reflection of course increases the likelihood that we’ll simply repeat many of the past mistakes in the next pandemic. It’s inexcusable to learn so little from a tragedy that history tells us is likely to recur in the future. ?

In our personal and professional lives, significant advancements often stem from a thorough analysis of our failures and a commitment to perpetual improvement.??

It’s worth asking yourself as a leader if your organization is doing everything possible to transform today's mistakes into tomorrow's successes. If not, maybe you need to encourage your teams to embrace honest reflection and implement the three steps above to ensure that a regrettable mistake today does not become a preventable disaster in the future.

Quote of The Week

“In the face of adversity, we don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” - Archilochus

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