When Things Go Wrong….
Lessons From Geese – For Business
I was a junior Tornado pilot on my first Tornado tour, flying with an experienced navigator, on a 3 vs 1 training sortie in the UK.
The Aim: Get the most from training. Simulate hitting targets, conduct reconnaissance, survive the threat, get home safely.
The Strategy: Make sure we have the right people (Suitably Qualified and Experienced People), the right assets (aircraft, fuel, training weapons, range slots, low level flying area), and plan for a suitable piece of airspace with suitable weather.
The Plan: Build a scenario to meet training aims, with the resources available, in the time allocated.
The story behind this sorry sight draws lessons for any leaders and teams in incident management, calmness under pressure, teamwork, and training kicking in.
We were flying low level (250 feet) in the Lake District when a gaggle of geese launched into our path and at least five hit our Tornado. A loud bang, the aircraft slewing sideways, and lots of vibration, indicated things were sub-optimal, not least for the geese.
‘Aviate (fly the aircraft), Navigate, Communicate’ was a well-practiced mantra, followed by ‘sit on your hands’. Many an aircraft and crew had been lost due to rushing into actions before properly assessing the situation.
For business operations:
Negate the nearest immediate threat,
Get to the safest place whilst we figure this out,
Inform with fact, request assistance if required.
Boldface Drills. Actions committed to memory, and regularly tested, to ensure the correct risk mitigations are applied at the earliest opportunity, without referencing notes.
In slower time, when the immediate threat had passed, we checked Emergency In-Flight Reference Cards to ensure immediate actions were correctly carried out, subsequent actions are followed in the logical order, and to guide a plan to recover the situation.
I had practiced emergencies in the simulator with navigators, and in the aircraft on Annual Qualified Flying Instructor Checks. Not once had we practiced dealing with all of the issues now affecting us at the same time; airframe damage causing handling concerns; a fuel leak; pitot tube damage causing instruments to mis-read; uncertainty of the integrity of the engines; potential for a high speed swept, or flapless landing approach; potential short notice or premeditated ejection; a wingman chasing us down to provide an external view of the situation; weather and controlled airspace in mountainous and remote terrain; a short runway with no stopping aids (we still had a fuel leak).
Time compressed and as a team we became busy very quickly, but we kept assessing the situation with aviate, navigate, communicate. We worked through what we were presented with, followed the drills, made and adjusted a plan. We landed safely from a precautionary single engine approach on a short runway, with mid-flaps, still leaking fuel. We de-briefed and reflected on what we could have done better over a single malt in the bar of a local Bed and Breakfast.
Could we have done better? Always. Did we handle every emergency in the future perfectly? No. did we learn enough to help others, and survive a career flying fast jets without ejecting or getting seriously injured? Yes.
Drama needs a known process
So what lessons can be applied to business operation situations?
If you are in a risky business, plan for incidents. We can negate the risk of an incident by not doing the risky stuff. But we are not progressing the capability by not taking the risks. Consider the contingencies, plan a risk management approach and brief the team.
Practice the ‘what-ifs’ with the team at 1g. Train and practice with the team that might be involved. Get their knowledge to an acceptable baseline and expose them to the likely scenarios. Doing this in a controlled and safe environment encourages learning, enables resets, and grows capability. Seeing a drama for the first time at 250 feet and 480 knots is less likely to end in a successful outcome.
Have an incident response process. You are unlikely to predict every scenario but have a range of actions and responses that can be adapted and applied to the situation.
Have an honest debrief and feedback process. Analysis of what worked, but more importantly what could have been better, increases the chance of success the next time, for you, and others.
When things go wrong:
Negate the nearest immediate threat,
Get to the safest place whilst we figure this out,
Inform with fact, request assistance if required.