The View From 30000 Feet3 rules pilots use to survive

it was 9 p.m

new year’s eve 2019

and i was on a plane heading straight

south

from new york city to bogota columbia

now when i say it was a clear beautiful

night

you could make out so many stars you

could even make out the milky way galaxy

as our plane headed straight south at 38

000 feet

just 300 miles off the coast of florida

oh it was beautiful the moon was out you

could probably read a book by it too

wisp of air was coming out of the air

vent

and all was just so peaceful

and then

i saw it

started off as a little glow at first

and then it got a little bigger

a few tense minutes go by

and

i look up

and i hear uh

i look up and the windshield in front of

me

is shattered like a spider web of cracks

what would you do

how would you react

now i can tell you with

20 years flying airplanes over 8 000

hours flying airplanes all over the

world my first reaction

was well i haven’t seen something like

this before

as you can imagine our 757 jet flying

400 miles an hour had no land in sight

so heart rate started picking up just a

little bit that night but we do what in

the pilot world is most essential when

things don’t go as planned

okay first of all let’s fly the airplane

okay the plane is still flying the

autopilot’s working and we haven’t

depressurized well

yet

okay

next let’s face towards shore at least

start running our emergency checklist

now we come up with a new plan since

we’re not going to bogota our new plan

is going to take us to orlando tonight

so we get facing that direction and

continue with the checklist

the third step let everyone else know

let air traffic control know let the

planes know let our flight attendants

and our passengers and the company know

as well

after that it’s simple

get the plane on the ground right

well obviously we we did that that night

and we were even able to get a new plane

within a short amount of time and take

off again for bogota

all without getting a chance to say hi

to mickey

so when things don’t go as planned in a

plane pilots are ingrained with a

process actually we’re embedded with

this process for our very first flight

too so it becomes instinctual

this

framework

is shared with us from our very first

flight on our single-engine airplanes

and so it applies then all the way up to

the multi-million dollar multi-engine

airplanes we fly later with hundreds of

solds on board

this framework is simple

one

aviate

two

navigate

and three

communicate and they must be done in

that order

with this simple framework many

accidents have been prevented in the

skies overhead and many lives have been

saved

now

today

we are no strangers to crisis

we have crisis on the border

drugs global warming

mental health

race relations

covid

arguably even a social media and a

detention deficit crisis too

we are however strangers to a solid

framework for dealing with these crisis

i know with what i have learned up in

the cockpit

can also be applied to us here on the

ground

one of the most famous ava navigate

communicate stories is the story of

kevin sullenberger sully you remember

him he landed his plane on the hudson

river and glided into the history books

as the hero on the hudson

the miracle on the hudson excuse me

for anyone who doesn’t know about two

minutes after takeoff his airbus 320

with 150 passengers and five crew

members hit a large flock of geese

he immediately aviated his aircraft he

took control of the airplane and

evaluated he didn’t have any more thrust

from the engines because the birds had

taken it out but he still had the flying

air speed and he could still control the

plane steering

next he started to turn towards the

nearest airport the airport he took off

on

two navigate now let you in on a little

secret here

all pilots keep aware of where the

nearest piece of concrete is that we can

land a plane on

so once he starts his turn back towards

land he realizes he won’t be able to

make it so he starts looking for other

options

nope nope nope all he can see is the

glass of the hudson river as it passes

in front of him

so in an instant

but with years of framework experience

behind him he decides this will have to

do

and finally three communicate

now in his most critical phase here

he not only tails air traffic control

the emergency that’s going on

but he also tells his flight attendants

and the passengers in the back

by doing this

he gives his flight attendants that

extra crucial one minute

and enough time so they can start their

life saving procedures too

well we all know the rest of the story

as the plane glides onto the hudson

river and stays intact

due to the actions of captain

sullenberger and the crew of u.s air

callsign cactus 1549 that day

see with this simple framework all the

passengers were able to evacuate within

just 90 seconds

and onto boats

soon after

see

this framework

doesn’t only apply in the plane it also

applies

in crisis in our personal lives too

i remember christmas eve 2013 and

i was sitting in the office

alone

working on paperwork from

the bosses

don’t get me wrong i liked my job at the

time

i just saw

that i was away from my family away from

my friends

and there were many more christmases

like this going to happen in the future

think back to this last year and a half

that we’ve all endured together

did you ever feel lost while the world

crumbled around you

was your day spent figuring out zoom and

you’re on mute and wondering if

your company will even be there in the

next year

what if you used a framework

what if you took control of your life

it was that day that i decided to aviate

and take control of my life and cut out

the distractions and have a new focus

now in the next phase i moved to

navigate now navigate took me about a

month see we don’t have to use this

framework instantly we can spread it out

over time

so i took a month deciding where would i

live

where would i work

will my finances look like after i made

all of those decisions

i decided it was time

three communicate i went to my bosses

that day soon after when i made that

decision

and i told him it was my time to move on

so we started the process

well a few months after that that plan

finally came to fruition and a full year

after that

i was able to find and start my dream

job of flying for a major airline flying

hundreds of people a day all over the

world

just like yourself

aviate to what’s important

navigate and filter out the distractions

and communicate with what’s left

so if you find yourself in a crisis do

the following aviate filter out

everything

what’s important and what’s not

filter out the distractions

navigate

get your plane your project your

business your life face the proper

direction and start moving

this is also a good time to start

thinking about contingencies and writing

your path through turbulent times and

around bad weather

and three communicate

see sometimes these crisis and these

projects are so big

you can’t do this by yourself

so find your co-pilot

maybe it’s a spouse

a friend

a co-worker

a coach

expand your team and gather people along

with you that can help you obtain your

goal

aviate

navigate communicate

see

daily millions of people jump on a steel

tube of thousands if not millions of

parts

and hurl themselves through the air at

over four to five hundred miles an hour

and daily

you

and them

put your trust in strangers you don’t

know

but who are all committed to the

principle

the aviate navigate communicate

these principles serve us not only in

the plane but also in our daily lives

i believe

that if we all used a framework like

aviate navigate communicate

the world would be a healthier place

the world would be a safer place

the world would be a place where every

landing was a smooth one

thank you

you