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Talk to your passengers before and after these come on. sometimes explain things, um, plainly? And I just threw in the little dog Toto thing – couldn’t resist. Halloween and all. The lady passenger began to grasp the seriousness of the situation while simultaneously realizing she had acted fool- ishly, influenced by not only the truth but the chuckling of other passengers. This is a prime example of why the PIC needs to anticipate the variances in psyche and the issues of which passengers worry. Before sitting in the left seat of an airliner, we have many years to witness both inflight and ground issues and to see how a well-seasoned PIC ex- plains things to the passengers. Over the years, I’ve seen the varied reactions folks have to bad news. And the whole telling-truth-thing sometimes doesn’t work as well as we might contemplate, so be ready. And you probably want to skip the crash into the ground and fireball parts. My pilot-friend and fellow writer Dick Karl was an oncol- ogy surgeon. Before becoming a steely-eyed jet pilot, he spent his career giving bad news to his patients and then progressively more dire news each time they met. A while back, I read “Being Mortal” by Dr. Atul Gawande. It discusses nursing homes, hospice and the modern-day process of dy- ing. A portion of the book talked about various techniques the physicians could employ in discussing this process and the painful decisions. It described three general approaches: 1. Dr. Information: Just the facts, ma’am. Only clinical facts and procedures are discussed. 2. Dr. Know-it-All: This is what we found wrong with you, this is what I think about it, and this is what we’re going to do about it. This type of discussion isn’t a discussion at all; it’s a briefing. 3. Dr. Interpretative: These are our options based on your expectations and desires: What is important to you? What outcome do you want and what are your expectations? As the PIC, we like to tell the truth, but as you saw with the lady and her puppy, sometimes even a simple truth like a diversion can ignite a secondary fire. You Can’t Handle the Truth! As pilots, we pretty much have only the “Dr. Information” and “Dr. Know-it-All” approaches available when interacting with our passengers. We tell the folks the situation and let them know our plan – it’s a dictator briefing, not a committee meeting. Imagine if we gave our passengers bad news then progressively worse news in the fashion of a surgeon each time we met: “Since we flew together last week, I’ve had a weather consultant interpret the TAF chart and the mechanics from our group presented their findings. We had hoped for a remission but the terminal weather is, well, terminal. There is a good chance that one of the right engine fan blades is developing a stress fracture. And even treated with $80,000 per-once fix-it stuff from the airplane-pharmacy, the crack is likely to progress. We also have an occluded fuel line. We’re taking a fuel thinner to help keep the fuel flowing but it’s possible that our left engine will have a convulsive seizure due to the occlusion. If one of the motors goes into arrest, we can come back to the airport but this fog is going to get worse.” It makes me glad I’m a dictator and not a surgeon trying to explain the details of flying airplanes. Passengers Want the Truth No matter from which side of the cockpit door you toil, we all do our part in dealing with passengers. But the non-pilot public absorbs information more readily when delivered by the PIC, especially if we throw in a bit of candy. The recent Citation runway accidents (Citation Excel at OVE – 6,020 ft. runway, and a Citation Latitude at 0A9 – 4,529 ft. runway) highlight the need to talk to our passengers just like we do at the airlines about emergency exits and following the instructions of crewmembers. When you talk to non-pilots, take a moment to consider the audience. My experience is that even though sometimes frightening, passengers want the truth. Most folks are amazed by what we do and though intelligent, have no clue how we do it. It may be best to under exaggerate and soften the facts in order to lessen their anxiety while presenting the truth. Even during Halloween, try not to scare the crap out of them. Or their dog. Kevin Dingman has been flying for more than 40 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737 and DC9 with 23,000 hours in his logbook. A retired Air Force major, he flew the F-16 and later performed as an USAF Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian organiz tion Wings of Mercy, is employed by a major airline, and owns and operates a Beechcraft Duke.Contact Kevin at dinger10d@ gmail.com. My experience is that even though sometimes frightening, passengers want the truth. 42 • TWIN & TURBINE / October 2019