True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous and conflicting information.
Winston Churchill
“The time elapsing between the beginning of a stimulus and the beginning of an organism’s reaction to it.” That’s the definition of reaction time – that is, if you don’t mind being called an organism. Even if you do mind, it’s still the definition. Our high school driver’s education teacher used “age, experience and wisdom” as his retort to the class contention that our youth and quick reaction time made us better drivers than older, slower-thinking drivers. We had yet to learn that the quickest reaction time is the one in which you avoid the need to react quickly in the first place. Or one in which you avoid having to react a second time because the first reaction was wrong.
In our flying world, when we discuss quick reactions, we are all trained to relax and to move switches and controls deliberately, with purpose and in the correct order. In the Citation 650, the one and only event in which a knee-jerk reaction is allowed is during an uncommanded thrust reverser deployment in flight. There are two switches near each fire switch labeled EMER and NORMAL with the word STOW next to EMER. In the sim, thrust reverser deployment in flight is often used to initiate unusual attitude recovery practice – from very unusual attitudes.
Screaming Passengers
The top 12 percentile – that’s what I scored today using an internet reaction-time test. And I’m within a pitching wedge of age 70. Another test categorized my reaction time as equivalent to that of age 40 – not quite as fast as a high school driver’s ed student. However, they were very simple physical tests using the “click-now” function more similar to an arcade game than a useful reaction time measuring tool. Also, more of a hand-eye coordination assessment than a test of the ability to react, they didn’t require any decision-making other than the recognition of a visual cue.
There was no requirement for subject matter knowledge, analytical thinking or risk assessment. There were no time constraints like an approaching mountain, accumulating ice, low fuel, the end of a runway or the airplane rolling over due to a deployed thrust reverser. There were no screaming passengers, no smoke filling the cabin or the sound of accelerating air or that of a decelerating engine. You could not clip any trees, sink in the ocean, land short, or bend any metal if your decision was wrong or reaction inadequate. In other words, there was no pressure. No pressure except for that imposed by my piloty-arrogance in attempting to get into the top ten percentile.
If It Ain’t Broke…
Without a ballistic recovery system or an ejection seat, we must control the aircraft until it stops moving. The decisions we make determine where that point is, in which our flight path intersects the tangent of the horizon. We prefer that area to be a nice, long, paved runway. The need for us to react instantly in order to achieve this geometric solution is normally relegated to takeoff, landing and perhaps avoiding a mid-air collision. Other than these examples, the need for a nanosecond analysis, decision and immediate reaction is uncommon. There is normally time to think. As in business and politics, however, sometimes our deliberation and analysis result in a congress-like decision: take no action at all….for the moment.
Some of our actions can be irrevocable, and a hurried decision, even when using well-developed intuition, can be incomplete, inadequate, and occasionally disastrous. We have learned to slow down, analyze by cross-checking multiple sources, gather data, evaluate the options and then react appropriately and deliberately. Only at the end of the process do we execute any physical portion of the reaction, which is the moving of a control – or five. An unnecessarily quick reaction could generate an unpleasant surprise and additional difficulties. The first few seconds, or even a full minute, when reacting to an event are therefore used for recognition, analysis, decision-making and then action, if any.
Man, know thyself.
Socrates
A New Year, A New Perspective
Flying single-pilot in the weather can elevate heart rates faster than a letter from the IRS or an engine failure at V1. Unlike a warm sunny day or in our younger days when we could analyze and react more quickly, inflight events can become distressing. It may take more time and effort in the planning and execution of the flight to ensure a safe, smooth and stress-free operation. We are getting older and probably slower in thought and movement, maybe complacent and sometimes forgetful. Father time is unstoppable. For all of us, it can move along more quickly than a fast-moving cold front – and faster than we recognize.
It’s common for the perpetually-young person in our minds to overestimate our ability or to modify reality through hopeful optimism. We push ourselves, often without realizing it as if we were young and swift. We assume that we will think and react quickly when needed. The time to discover that we are not the teenager we once were is not during an inflight event. How do we recognize if we are experiencing diminishing abilities as time overtakes skill, cunning and luck – I mean, experience? There are clues and you may have seen them.
Remembering More Slowly
It could be more of a struggle to read back a clearance, or we may miss more radio calls, forget or skip some of a checklist. Or we may have difficulty in remembering a speed, pressure or other operating limitation. It could be anxiety in the execution of a climb-via or descend-via procedure, loading the wrong approach, trouble flying the approach, or we may have a less-than-optimal landing. And not simply a hard landing necessarily; one that touches down too far down the runway, not on centerline or at too fast or too slow of an airspeed. Nowadays, a common indicator of diminishing proficiency is remembering more slowly.
It may be an obscure GPS function like the missed approach mode, used less often. Rapidly changing technology is a fine litmus test of our ability to learn, remember and keep up with the airplane. Even a modern transponder with traffic and weather can trip us up as we swipe through the pages of data and information. Struggling with avionics or another system is indicative of low proficiency or a change in our ability to think and react. Some say we remember more slowly not because our brains are older and therefore slower, but because they are full of data and other “crap” from years of experiences. And it simply takes more time to find the data in our full hard drives. Perhaps like creating a hot-path or an icon for the most frequently needed data, training and accessing the data more frequently can be a defense against this phenomenon.
Recurrent Training Torture
To stay ahead of the airplane and to avoid the need for quick reactions, we use checklists, an efficient and practiced instrument cross-check, and we try to remember past experiences or the experiences of others. We stay within operating limitations, properly manipulate the flight and engine controls and we avoid letting the airplane touch anything other than rubber to runway. Initial and recurrent training helps to point out and correct our weak spots. The MU-2 folks are very happy with the results that SFAR 108 (Special Federal Aviation Regulation) have produced in their pilot community. Perhaps we could follow their lead and accomplish the same type of training regimen. The CJP (Citation Jet Pilots Association) recommends we attend six-month recurrent training whether our insurance requires it or not. Most of us that fly turbines for hire already do.
And not necessarily to comply with or avoid further government-imposed regulation or to satisfy underwriters, but in order to stay proficient and to stay alive. Maybe we can increase the frequency of our recurrent training to every six or nine months instead of once each year. If nothing else, we should grab a buddy every couple of months as a safety pilot and fly some approaches – including the missed. Throw in an unplanned diversion as well. Have your safety pilot select an airport without telling you in advance, and let them also decide after which approach you should divert. It will force us into a short-notice reaction as we assess runways, the weather, approaches, and make the fuel computations.
Full Diapers
A pilot’s reaction time is based on experience, knowledge, our ability to access memory, forecast outcomes and, unfortunately, our age. Distractions, fatigue, complacency and lack of understanding are detriments to decision-making and reaction time. What may have been a manageable flight in the past may now peg our fun meter or fill our task-management diapers. If this type of apprehension occurs when we go flying, the “old organism” in us tells the “young organism” that the demands of the task may be too high.
We can avoid the areas of discomfort by a re-route, re-schedule or cancellation. Or we can take a chance and continue with the hairs standing up on the back of our neck. Remember the adage: “Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground.” Let’s use our age, experience and wisdom to avoid the need to react quickly in the first place. No one wants a full diaper.
