Continuing my thread of last week: aviation, Captainitis and the pilot ego ….

When you are stressed, how do you react? Do you fall into behaviors that you did years ago? In other words, do you regress? It may be something as simple as immediately rationalizing the situation or mumbling to yourself instead of talking directly to the person. Or it could be something drastic like slamming doors or speaking before thinking.

Or perhaps you have driven a stick shift car for years and years, and now you are driving an automatic. Let’s say you see you will be in an accident. In an effort to slow down, your left foot goes for the clutch and you shift the car into a lower gear. This is a regressive behavior.

Studies have found that pilots, when encountering a drastic situation in the aircraft, can regress to flying not the aircraft they are currently flying, but to do what they would do in a previously flown aircraft.

Stress can certainly include fatigue. In 1982, a Malaysian Airline System crew were flying an Airbus for Scandinavian Airlines. One would think that an Airbus is an Airbus … in this instance there were differences between the Malaysian Airbus and the Scandinavian Airbus. One of the differences was the ILS switches; the Malaysian Airbus had two positions, the Scandinavian Airbus had three positions.

This trip was extremely arduous, having four take-offs and landings. During the last landing, the first officer was having difficulty keeping the plane under control. The primary problem in this instance was that the first officer, in his moments of stress, had regressed to flying the Malaysian Airbus with the two positioned ILS, even though he was actively flying the Scandinavian Airbus with three positions.

The switches were similar, not exact. The more similar the item provoking interest or attention, the greater the chance of making a mistake.

Let me ask you …. What frustrating or difficult situations are you experiencing that causes you to exhibit regressive behavior?

Note: this thread will continue over the next several weeks.