Category: Motor Racing

Last time I was counting down at 50 days, and here we are past 100 days – still under lockdown, albeit with the somewhat more accommodating regulations of Level 3.

As discussed in my last blog, we are indeed now seeing a return to flying. It may be much reduced and restricted, but at least there is some movement. Many industry experts and organisations have speculated on just how long it would take for commercial aviation to recover, but rather than commit to forecasts, I will adopt a wait and see attitude. I’m reminded of Warren Buffet’s quip: “Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster, they tell you nothing about the future”.

What caught my attention during this period are peoples’ attitudes about the COVID-19 pandemic. One only has to look at social media posts to witness the stupid and boorish behaviour of many citizens around the world – the woman throwing groceries around or the man shouting abuse at shop assistants – instances where the issue was their refusal to wear masks, despite the clear rules at shop entrances stating “No mask – No Entry”.

Psychologists are quick to point out the reasons for such behaviour – just Google the psychological reasons for not wearing masks: You’ll be inundated with reasons ranging from denial to feeling powerless to political influence, mixed messages and psychotic or sociopathic behaviour.

All fair and well, but how are we dealing with the current situation in aviation?

Face facts, being a pilot currently is not a great occupation. All over the world airlines are laying off pilots – Emirates, Delta, Qantas, Air France, Air Mauritius – you name them, pilots are out of work everywhere. Expats are stuck with borders closed, households suddenly have no income – the situation is dire.

Now, to paraphrase Warren Buffet’s quote: Handling of a crisis will tell you more about the pilot than about the outcome.

I recently read a blog by pilot and author, Owen Zupp, who was laid off by Qantas (read HERE). While the business world and twitter experts are sprouting forth about resilience, here is a quiet example. Similarly, I recently met with a fellow Captain who had to sell his house, because they couldn’t keep up the bond repayments – yet this was done with almost stoic acceptance, dealing with the situation at hand in the most reasonable way. Just by way of explanation, crews in my company (as in many others) have been on unpaid leave since the beginning of lockdown. With no profitable flying possible for the foreseeable future, with licenses and currency now lapsed, it means proper crisis management to simply survive.

Shouting and screaming has never solved any problem – and professional pilots are trained to deal with crisis situations methodically and logically.

Thus  I found a recent webinar for GA pilots rather disconcerting.

While other people are dealing with life-and-death situations, some private pilots (and, sorry to say, some career pilots too) exhibited the same selfish and negative behaviour we see in the social media posts referred to earlier. Flaunting laws and regulations, threatening civil disobedience, using foul language – these are not traits one would expect of pilots behaving professionally. Abusing the hard-working volunteers, who actively are engaging with the CAA and other relevant departments to achieve the phased opening of recreational and sport aviation, while clearly showing a lack of knowledge and procedures, being totally ignorant of where to find NOTAMs and other relevant information – frankly, it leads me to question whether people exhibiting these negative behaviours should be allowed near an aircraft at all! .

Here we see some of the well known hazardous attitudes:

• Anti-authority,
• Impulsivity,
• Invulnerability,
• Macho, and
• Resignation,
• most obviously the anti-authority, invulnerability and macho attitudes.

These attitudes simply do not belong in a safe aviation environment. That is why highly experienced airline pilots now have to undergo three days of ground school and two days of simulator training before being allowed near an airliner – because they understand the associated risks and know that regulations and SOP’s are there for a reason.

Should one find regulations unreasonable or illogical, there are professional ways to bring about change. Until such time, professionals follow the rules.

I’m one of the very happy motor racing fans who are watching the first actual 2020 Grand Prix this weekend. Aviation can take a leaf from the F1 book on how to deal with the epidemic – essentially follow the published rules or you simply won’t be allowed near the track.

The potential risks associated with not adhering to the rules for the new reality are just too great for this multi-million dollar sport – so no deviance is tolerated. And in F1 we are also dealing with strong A-type personalities, so no excuses for aviation!