| When I was taking flight training, we spent what I | | | | created a 'fix' ahead of time, so that the |
| thought was an inordinate amount of time in | | | | astronauts didn't have to sit around scratching |
| Ground School before ever setting foot in an | | | | their heads, trying to figure out what to do next. |
| airplane. I just wanted to get into the plane and | | | | It was important that they spend as little time as |
| fly. It turns out there are a few important things | | | | possible in life-threatening situations. In many |
| one must learn before getting into an airplane - | | | | cases it meant building more redundancy into a |
| like what keeps it up in the air for starters. | | | | system so that there were backups in case of a |
| A significant part of ground school was studying | | | | failure, but more often it meant pre-defining a set |
| and memorizing emergency procedures. It is | | | | of procedures to get them back on track - a Plan |
| important to understand all of the things can go | | | | B. |
| wrong, and know what to do if it should happen. | | | | Murphy |
| Airplanes have a nasty habit of falling out of the | | | | So what has all of that got to do with your plan? |
| sky if you do the wrong thing in an emergency. I | | | | Our plans often go astray. Unfortunately, Murphy |
| didn't memorize all of the things that could go | | | | has a nasty habit of showing up at the most |
| wrong and what to do about them in hopes that I | | | | inopportune times. |
| would get to use that knowledge. But it gave me | | | | No matter how well you plan, you won't anticipate |
| a significant comfort level knowing that I was | | | | everything that can happen. In addition, right from |
| prepared. The most important lesson to be | | | | the start you know there will be things that |
| learned is that regardless of anything else that is | | | | conspire against you accomplishing everything you |
| going on, you must 'fly the plane.' Now that may | | | | set out to do. When things go wrong, instead of |
| seem patently obvious to you, but when things | | | | sitting there scratching your head, it would be |
| start going wrong in the cockpit, it is very easy | | | | much better to have thought through the most |
| to get so distracted by the problem that you are | | | | common challenges and already have a |
| not paying attention to flying the plane. That's | | | | contingency plan in place. You won't be stopped |
| when most accidents happen. When things start | | | | for nearly as long, and you'll get back on track |
| to go wrong and you lose sight of your goal, it is | | | | without losing so much momentum. |
| very easy to "crash and burn." | | | | Think about Nehemiah. He set out to rebuild the |
| The first time I ever took my wife up - who was | | | | wall of Jerusalem. When King Arta-xerxes asked |
| petrified to start with - we hadn't been in the air | | | | Nehemiah, "For what do you make a request?" |
| five minutes when the whole electrical system | | | | Nehemiah had a very clear and specific goal. He |
| died. How do you think she would have handled | | | | told the king how long it would take him and |
| the situation if I had said, "Listen honey, under | | | | exactly what he needed to accomplish the task. |
| your seat is this big, thick pilots manual. Would | | | | He had a well-defined plan that took a whole |
| you pull that out and look in the index for | | | | chapter in the Bible to describe. He enlisted the |
| 'Electrical System, Failed' and see what it says I'm | | | | other stakeholders, painted them into the vision |
| supposed to do now"? Since I had memorized the | | | | and got their buy-in: "Then I said to them, 'You |
| emergency procedures, I had it diagnosed and | | | | see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in |
| back on line before she even knew there was a | | | | ruins with her gates burned. Come, let us build the |
| problem. We will always be more effective, when | | | | wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer |
| we anticipate the things that may go wrong. | | | | disgrace.' And I told them of the hand of my God |
| Plan B | | | | which had been upon me for good, especially the |
| As an aerospace engineer I was involved in | | | | privileges that the king had given me. And they |
| several of the early space programs. Skylab - the | | | | said, 'Let us rise up and build.' So they prepared |
| first-ever space station, the Viking Lander on | | | | themselves for the work ahead." |
| Mars, early Shuttle programs, the first capture | | | | Nehemiah did it all just right. But that didn't mean |
| and repair of an ailing satellite, and the design of | | | | that the plan would be executed flawlessly and |
| the Manned Maneuvering Unit - the jet-propelled | | | | without challenges. In fact they had to build with |
| backpack that the astronauts use to fly around | | | | their tools in one hand while they held their |
| outside the shuttle. | | | | weapons in the other in anticipation of an attack |
| One of my jobs was to conduct what was called | | | | by Sanballat and Gesham. During the building of |
| a "Failure Mode and Effects Analysis." Basically, it | | | | the wall Nehemiah had to endure ridicule, threat of |
| entailed dreaming up anything and everything that | | | | attack, discouragement, whining of the people, |
| could go wrong --from hardware failures to | | | | compromise, slander and fear. In fact it took |
| something as simple as an astronaut flipping | | | | three chapters to describe all the problems and |
| switches in the wrong order. It was critical to try | | | | challenges. But he did get the wall built! |
| and anticipate anything that could put an | | | | Hopefully you never encounter all that Nehemiah |
| astronauts life at risk. It was what I called the | | | | did in the pursuit of your goals, but know there |
| "What If?" game: "What if this happens? What if | | | | will always be challenges. Be prepared. Plan ahead. |
| that happens? What if that happens before this? | | | | Have a contingency plan. Above all, stay focused |
| What if this never happens at all?" I tried to | | | | on your goal -- "Fly the plane! |
| exhaust every possibility ahead of time. Then we | | | | |