Put your money where the risk is

On Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 12:30:21 AM UTC-8, Branko Stojkovic wrote:
On Friday, November 29, 2019 at 2:53:54 PM UTC-8, 2G wrote:
I don't want to over-think things here - it actually is a pretty basic concept. If you have poor stick-and-rudder skills, or poor decision making skills, or both, you are an accident waiting to happen.

Tom

It is true that poor stick-and-rudder skills and/or poor decision-making skills cause majority of fatal and non-fatal accidents, and near misses. Case closed!

Or is it?

With regards to the stick-and-rudder skills, the matter is pretty straight forward. In general, there is a direct correlation/causation between the flying experience and the stick-and-rudder skill level, i.e., the beginners have limited skills and the experts have excellent skills. Furthermore, most pilots can fairly accurately assess their own stick-and-rudder skills. A yearly check ride with an instructor provides a useful feedback about the areas that need improvement.

Okay, so what about them decision-making skills, which also vary among the glider pilot population? It is safe to say that in this case there is a much weaker correlation between the flying experience and the skill level. It seems that the decision-making skills are much more related to the psychological makeup of the pilot and makes things much more complicated and causes several intractable problems.

Problem #1: Few of us who have poor decision-making skills are aware of that fact. The simplest reason is that we have been getting away with making certain types of poor decisions. Even if our poor decisions caused us a few incidents or near misses, we are inclined to place the blame elsewhere (very likely), instead of openly examining our decision-making processes (not likely) or seeking help/advice (very unlikely).

Problem #2: There are no established methods of tracking the decision-making skills, nor of providing feedback, like there is for the stick-and-rudder skills. Some experienced pilots, when they see that someone has made a poor decision, will speak to that pilot and point out the problem. Others will not, likely because of their own personality and/or the offending pilot's personality. In any case, only few of our bad decisions will be pointed out to us.

Problem #3: Even if someone tells me that I made a bad decision, or God forbid, that my decision-making skills are lacking, I will likely take that as a personal attack because of an instant emotional reaction of my injured ego. What happens next will depend on my psychological makeup. If I am rough around the edges, or have a short fuse, I may tell you to bugger off and mind you own damn business. On the other hand, if I'm polite and easy going, I may smile and say "okay thanks I appreciate it," but in my head I'd be thinking "F#@$ YOU, you know-it-all." The problem is that in either case, I have not learned a damn thing from this experience. If anything, it may motivate me to do the same thing (make the same poor decision) again, just to prove (at least to myself) that it's no big deal.

If the above analysis is correct, then is there a solution? There better be, because lives are at stake. I suggest starting by asking yourself a simple question:

"Do I sometime make poor decisions that could cause me to have an accident?"

If your answer is "yes", then you are sufficiently self-aware and you are probably in the process of improving your decision-making skills.

If your answer is "no" or "not that I'm aware off", then you have a problem that might one day cost you your life. In order to make progress you may need help, professional or otherwise.

Branko XYU

Branko,

I will answer your question right after you answer this one: do you think Masak made a bad decision(s) that cost him his life?

Tom