7 Learnings from Air Crash Investigation
So if you know a bit about me and the fact I’m a very gentle, quite quiet sensitive kind of person, you might not think that Air Crash Investigation would be one of my most watched series over the last year. Especially as I don’t watch the news because I find it overwhelmingly sad and biased (that’s another post!)
If you don’t know it (it’s quite a ‘niche’ kind of programme on National Geographic channel), it basically tells the story behind why Airplanes either crashed, had accidents or major issues in the air.
First it normally tells you what happened as the investigators would have heard when they first started looking in it, then takes you through how they then investigated it to find the cause so that future flights can be safer. Many of the major crashes happened in the 80s and 90s so some time ago now.
So why do I spend time watching this quite sombre series?
What I find amazing about many of the accidents is how lots of little things added up to cause a catastrophe- such as a combination of weather, bad repairs on a plane, and lack of proper communication between the captain and first pilot. Often each thing individually wouldn’t have caused a crash, but when you add them up, it means the plane ends up in a situation it simply can’t recover from.
It reminds me that making small changes in our lives can add up the same way if you change the course of a plan just 1 degree, after a few hours it’ll be in a very different place.
So what can we learn from all these incidents?
- Never underestimate the impact small changes can have – they do add up!
- Communication is so important- making any assumptions can be dangerous- we don’t truly know what others are thinking
- If you see something wrong, say so! Don’t assume because someone else is more ‘qualified’ that they know better than you – trust your gut instincts
- Delegate wherever possible and focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do everything yourself, it can end up in disaster- several crashes were caused because the captain wasn’t delegating anything to his first officer
- Shortcuts come back to haunt you- if a job is worth doing, do it properly – give 100%
- When giving instructions, make sure you are clear and don’t leave anything open to interpretation
- The way people behave is unpredictable- we aren’t machines. Treat this with caution and with respect – it’s how we come up with creative solutions.
Do you have any slightly strange series you enjoy watching like this? Have you taken the time to consider why you enjoy watching it and what themes / learnings you can take from it into life in general?
Has this post made you think?
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