Spotlight on Safety: Keep Cool under Pressure

Break things down to the most essential steps of survival in any cockpit emergency.

Let’s face it. Most pilots are happy to share stories about a time when they applied their exceptional knowledge, skills, and abilities to overcome an emergency in the cockpit. Far fewer are willing to recount a past mistake in the air that only through dumb luck did they manage to survive.

We can learn a lot from the first group of pilots—but much more from the latter.

Nearly all pilot stories include “details,” adjusted to fit the pilot’s revisionist memory, about the aviator’s level of stress and how they managed it—or mismanaged it, if they’re honest. Understatements (“Yeah, it was a little sporty!”) and overstatements (“The flak was so thick you could taxi across it!”) are predictable to fellow pilots. Some pilots will even get to feeling humbled enough to talk about a flight when they lost the bubble and nearly lost their life.

As such stories unfold, veteran pilots feign boredom while the newbies patiently wait for the big reveal. But everyone is listening. Every story is priceless. We crave that one nugget or new idea we can add to our own bag of tricks. How did the pilot or crew overcome adversity when others failed?

Whether or not the described flight ended safely, most every professional pilot who heard the story—at least those who seek continuous improvement—will make an adjustment afterward. They’ll hit the books and train to ensure that they’re better equipped to handle a similar scenario.

I’ve had moments when I’ve been proud my training and experience paid off, and the outcome was just as advertised. Other times? Let’s just say I’ve had the occasional “helmet fire” and made the situation worse before it got better.

So what did I take away from all of those moments of success and failure, besides an extra dose of humility? Nothing earth-shattering—but something definitely worth repeating.

In all situations, you must:

• Maintain aircraft control
• Analyze the situation
• Take appropriate action.

I know, it’s not original, but MAT works. The military sometimes uses MATL, with the “L” added for “land as soon as conditions permit.”

Whether you regularly follow MAT or MATL, in an emergency it makes no difference. What’s important to remember is that these memory aids break things down to the most essential steps of survival in any situation. Armed with this checklist and a working knowledge of your aircraft, you have everything you need to navigate uncharted territory.

You possess a photographic memory whether or not you choose to believe it. All that remains is quieting your mind and allowing it to show up in a moment of uncertainty. No published emergency procedure? No problem. You can work yourself out of nearly any abnormal scenario, provided you maintain aircraft control before focusing on any other task.

Perhaps Brian Roman says it best in his blog post “Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast,” at the website Review before Flight.

“While MATL may be an excellent training tool to teach young pilots, it’s not the key to making it through an emergency,” Roman says. “The pilot, or crew, must be calm, collected, and methodical. Remember, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. No matter what the emergency, no matter who the pilot, no matter what kind of aircraft, it’s never necessary to rush. That’s how mistakes get made.”

KEEP CALM, and keep the rotors turning!