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With low experience, as in youth, many difficulties are unrecognized, so we may react with lightning quick, but boiler-plate and incomplete solutions. The result is the need to apply several additional or alternate solutions, time permitting. As we gain experience (and thus, age), we often recognize difficulties, compare and contrast the situation to previous encounters and apply a solution. Described by neurologists as “crystallized
intelligence,” this process is derived from a base of specialized knowledge that supports attention to the relationships between items of information, the anticipation of events, and coordination of physical movements in order to respond faster and more accurately.
The above discussion and
high-brow neurology explanation
may be a fine comparison and
analysis, until, that is, the older contestant becomes slow in remembering, or is unable to remember at all, the aforementioned lessons learned while attempting to engage their magical crystallized-intelligence drive. And don’t even try to rationalize these esoteric facts to a fast- moving, technologically savvy, teenage mutant pilot as they out-remember and out-fly your saggy derrière.
Wrong Patient, Wrong Approach
I’ve been corresponding with a non-aviation writer about the aging doctor debate, no segue to the above sagginess inferred. You know, should an 80-year-old physician be performing surgery. Age presents similar challenges to everyone’s performance; doctors and pilots included. The main concern
isn’t that the doctors will fall asleep on their feet, remove the wrong organ or engage the wrong patient. It’s that older doctors, according to my fellow writer, typically aren’t up to speed on the new stuff. Or they’re set in their ways, reluctant to use new techniques and procedures that have been proven to be more successful.
It was curious that forgetfulness was not on the forefront of their debate. Perhaps it’s the very fact of being set in their ways, and
proficient in the surgical procedures that they’ve used for many years that memory is less of an issue for a senior surgeon. Once we have found our groove, after having learned what works and what doesn’t, change can feel like an unwarranted gamble. My experiences during the merger of several airlines, changing to a paperless flight deck and the transition to a next generation airliner, have all highlighted
As we gain experience (and thus, age), we often recognize difficulties, compare and contrast the situation to previous encounters and apply a solution.
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