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