At the end of my career I would love to be a captain for Delta or United airlines. This means that my end of career aspirations involve me being the pilot in command of a large passenger jet for one of the two largest, oldest, and most respected airlines in the world. This career, of course, is not without risks, but the same could be said for any career. Unfortunately, the risks of this particular career have the potential to be more catastrophic than most any other job. Thankfully, I can rest assured that I will not be tackling the safety issues of my field alone. There will be many teams working to improve the safety of flight. From mechanics to air traffic controllers to safety managers, and of course, the other members of the flight crew, I will always have someone to turn to if I need a hand. However, if and when something goes wrong, I know that I am the last line of defense between safety and catastrophic failure. It is because of this knowledge that I plan to implement all of my training to ensure that my passengers and I land safely and return to our families. It is, after all, my family that keeps me most motivated to come home safely from every flight.
Two of my biggest concerns in flying professionally are fatigue and complacency. Two separate but very closely related issues, as each can very easily lead to the other. It is hard to say how I will combat these issues in the future other than staying aware of them and, on some level, afraid of them. Fatigue is a serious problem for pilots, the white noise in a cockpit is enough to make you drowsy even if you just woke up from a full nights rest, which will be rare to get in the field. I have experienced unexpected fatigue due to white noise on cross country IFR flights already. So far I have found that conversation with the other pilot (or in my case, my flight instructor) is more than enough to keep my head form wandering too much. This can create a distraction, though, if you're not careful, which leads me into complacency.
Complacency, in my humble opinion, is the number one killer of pilots. It leads to an over dependence on systems meant to assist you. Complacency leads to letting the autopilot fly your plane in icing conditions and other such hazardous acts that can have catastrophic results. The only cure for complacency I have been able to think of as of yet is fear. Perhaps fear is a bad word for it, maybe respect is more suitable. Respect for the situation you're in and the responsibilities you carry. Another word for this feeling is professionalism. A word used a lot in today's Air Force, professionalism is often viewed as a behavior acceptable or politically correct for a work environment. I have always viewed it as being competent in your field. In some circles today, the most professional person could often be defined as the person who drops the least "F bombs" in a day. I, however, never agreed with that prioritization. I know professionalism involves a level of appropriate behavior, but I've always been the type to judge professionals by their skill and judgement more than their behavior. The movie
Flight with Denzel Washington comes to mind. Despite his behavior outside the cockpit, Denzel's character displays amazing professionalism while doing his job of captain (despite breaking the laws of physics). While I in no way condone anything his character portrays besides his skills and judgement in the cockpit, I found his character in that movie to be a good and bad example of the two sides of the word professionalism.
In the case of the Colgan Air accident, the pilots' professionalism can be called into question by simply looking at their complacency and fatigue which lead to the poor judgement of overly depending on the auto pilot in icing conditions which then exposed their lack of skill in recovering from a stall.
If and when I meet my career aspirations of becoming a professional pilot I plan to maintain my professionalism by simply being aware and interested in my surroundings. I believe that being a true professional requires only that we avoid things like complacency that would lead us to do our job in a way other than to the best of our ability. I plan to live through my career because of the skill and judgement I demonstrate on a daily basis, not because of luck or dependence on systems or the person sitting next to me.
