WW-027/21; Aeroplane Pilots - Why your organization hires them

As kids, my brother and I used to admire our father on the occasions he would ride one bicycle using one hand, and with the other hand he steered a second bicycle alongside. Now a senior grownup, I am in the ranks of those who cannot pull off such a heroic stunt, and we could be more than a simple majority. Years of doing job analysis taught me that every job requires a mix of in-born and school-taught skills. Some in-born attributes are a premium because they are rare. Accident-proneness among assembly-line workers would indicate prevalence of weak minds-on, eyes-on, and hands-on task requirements, if training and other logical interventions are discounted.

My father’s ability with the bicycle can be of advantage in the jobs and careers of plant operators, machine operators, soldiers, creative midfielders in soccer, astronauts, boxers, karatekas and pilots, to cite a few. Tasks in the cited areas are performed in a virtual capsule that places high demands on a simultaneous minds-on; eyes-on; hands-on; and feet-on (MEHF?) approach. Situation awareness and ability to follow two or more movements at once and to react to each one appropriately is the key thing. That is just one of the components a pilot brings to the workspace.?

In the mental department, pilots must familiarize well with relevant areas of knowledge drawn from physics, economics, chemistry, meteorology, radio communication, geography, law, navigation, computer, and mathematics. Some of these are internalized to become second nature, and it augurs well to throw in a useful second or third language. In the world of pilots, it is a calamity to score 99 out of 100. One way to look at that is that one plane out of 100 taking off will not arrive at the intended destination. For Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi that means one plane a day! How many passengers would be aboard those daily ill-fated planes? Food for thought.

A pilot’s job in a nutshell is to deliver time, destination, safety, and convenience. It takes an inordinate amount of mental stamina, physical stamina, and forward thinking. Services are delivered from an office in the sky, complete with escalators, streets, avenues, colourful street lighting, entertainment, refreshments, the works. Offices located in this manner have been most instrumental in creating what is called the global village. Each time a pilot sits in the office, time and destination transactions take place, wrapped in convenience, and packed in safety. All is tied up with teamwork.

Pilots enable us to be children of two villages, both of them on wheels in order to move with the times. The two villages ride alongside each other, and pilots lend a hand in keeping them close and parallel, as we navigate the twists and turns, ups and downs, of the road called Modern Times.?