PANIC POINT!
By William H. Smith
The Army Aviation Digest,
March 1963
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An old airline pilot is
credited with saying, "Flying is nothing but hours and hours of boredom, punctuated
with moments of stark terror." When that moment of stark terror interrupts
the routine of boredom, why are some aviators able to come through, while
others seem to forget the emergency procedures that have been taught them?
In an attempt to answer the
question let's look at the various aspects of the problem and see if we can
come up with a theory. First of all, what is fear?
Fear is an intense emotional
reaction characterized by attempts to withdraw from the situation, according to
the Encyclopedia Americana. The encyclopedia also explains that panics are fear
reactions arising when there has been no preparation for meeting the threat.
And there we have our first
clue, "... no preparation for meeting the threat."
Perhaps those lucky
individuals who always seem to come through in an emergency are able to see and
use the preparations that have been made for meeting an emergency. Or perhaps
if we carry this even further, when preparations have been made to meet an
emergency, is it still an emergency?
Suppose you are flying
along, enjoying the scenery. The air is calm; your engine is functioning
perfectly; and below you is nothing but mile after mile of pine trees. Suddenly
the engine falters a little-- then goes dead.
Are you now in an emergency?
Apparently you are. Down below you are trees and more trees. As far as you can
see there is not a patch of cleared ground big enough to land in. And here you
are with no engine to pull you in to your planned destination.
Is it really an emergency?
Suddenly you remember that all you have to do is pull the throttle back a
little and change to a tank with fuel in it. You see, preparations had been
made for just such an occurrence. Of course, it would have been an emergency if
there had not been two tanks or if you had become so excited you forgot to
switch. But you did remember and you did act. So, it became just a
hum-switch-tanks routine.
Looking into this matter of
fear and emergencies a little further, we see another clue. When the engine
went dead, you were able to think out the trouble and take corrective action.
Thus our second clue is in the matter of thinking during an emergency.
Recently Col Earnest A.
Pinson, USAF, holder of two Legion of Merit awards, a Distinguished Flying
Cross, and the Soldiers Medal, was interviewed on the subject. He believes the
ability to think in an emergency is a great asset in coming out unharmed.
And he is certainly
qualified to speak. He seems to have the knack of getting out of tight spots.
For instance, it was Colonel Pinson who, in 1956, flew in the first airplane to
go through the boiling mushroom cloud of a megaton H-bomb explosion over Bikini
Atoll. He came out without a scratch.
He likes to use boxing to
illustrate his point.
"In boxing," he
said, "you have to think even when you're hurt, or you don't last.
Somebody knocks you all over the ring for two or three rounds, but if you keep
your head and never admit you are licked, maybe you can win.
Mr. Leslie McFadden,
instructor pilot for the AO-1 Mohawk, U. S. Army Aviation School, Fort Rucker,
Ala., says, "Of course an aviator must think in an emergency. If not, he
does not stand much of a chance to come out unhurt."
Mr. McFadden, who
incidentally has been able to come out of many emergencies unhurt, carries the
subject even further.
He says: "The aviator
must know exactly what he and his equipment can do. If the aviator tries to get
more out of his airplane than was built into it he is in trouble. Therefore it
is important that every pilot must have a will to learn. He must jump at the
chance to learn all there is to know about the equipment that he is
flying."
Mr. R. N. Hayes of the
Safety Division, U. S. Army Aviation Center, says that in our study here we
should consider this matter of panic a little more. He believes that when
confronted with an emergency situation, each individual aviator arrives at a
point where reasoning will be impaired by panic.
Mr. Hayes explains:
"Some aviators with extensive experience and background have accumulated
knowledge that enables them to have a higher panic point. It is known that lack
of familiarity with a condition taxes the brain on taking care of details in
emergencies.
"Two pilots with the
same general background and experience might have a very great difference in
their panic points. One pilot, who is continually thinking in terms of
emergencies while flying and is mentally covering emergencies and emergency
procedures, is likely to have a high panic point. This pilot will take care of
many details automatically and will have a relatively free mind to make sound
decisions. Constantly striving to know what to do in advance of an emergency
situation also saves seconds that might mean the difference in life or death.
"On the other hand, the
pilot who is not emergency conscious and who flies with little thought of
coping with an emergency situation is likely to become involved in many details
that should be automatic. This impairs his thinking out a problem and arriving
at a sound decision."
It would seem that it all boils
down to being able to think during an emergency. But you can't just stop there.
You can't say to yourself, "Something's wrong. I've got to handle it in
half a second before I hit the ground." This kind of thinking is
guaranteed to keep any aviator completely confused until the wheels hit the
ground and the tail is motionless 15 feet in the air.
You must practice in your
cockpit and/or in your mind just what you will do when the prop does stop
turning. And you must know what you and your equipment can do. Then you will do
the routine things automatically, and the emergency will become simply an
unusual situation.
In this way if you really do
have an engine failure, and your procedures do not start it again, your mind
will not be cluttered with details. You can think clearly of the situation at
hand and what to do about it.
Be aware that those
"moments of stark terror" may come, that your hair can literally
stand on end. But know also these moments are no time to give way to alarm. It
is a time to make the brain keep working.