Rick Baker Thought Posts
Left Menu Space Holder

About the author

Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

E-mail me Send mail
Follow me LinkedIn Twitter

Search

Calendar

<<  January 2012  >>
MoTuWeThFrSaSu
2627282930311
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
303112345

View posts in large calendar

Recent Comments

Comment RSS

When your propeller stops turning...

by Rick Baker
On Jan 18, 2012

Some airplanes are still powered by engines and propellers.

Sometimes airplane engines fail and airplane propellers stop working.

This is a problem.

It is a problem that has only 2 solutions:

  1. get the propeller working or
  2. land the plane safely.
When I took some flying lessons 10 years ago, we used a little single-engine plane. Not that I was nervous or anything... I asked my instructor, "What happens if our engine fails and our propeller stops turning?" And, I asked about the relative safety of 1-engine planes [which have no engine when the engine fails] and 2-engine planes [which have 1 engine left when one engine fails]. 
 
I was surprised to learn - when an engine fails 1-engine planes have a better safe-landing track record than 2-engine planes. 
 
Why?
 
Why would propellerless single-engine planes have better safe-landing results than 2-propeller planes with one propeller not working?
 
Was it something to do with engineering, pitch and yaw and all those things?
 
No.
 
It was due to a human factor.
 
Specifically, it was due to FOCUS1
 
Put simply, when a pilot is flying a single-engine plane and the engine fails the pilot immediately shifts full attention to finding a safe landing spot and finding it immediately. Immediate landing is the singular FOCUS. When a pilot is flying a 2-engine plane and one engine fails the pilot faces a less-urgent situation. With less urgency, some pilots seek ideal or almost-ideal landing sites. And, that splitting of FOCUS increases the risk of crash landings.
 
So...
 
When your propeller stops turning...you gotta FOCUS!
 
 
Footnote:
  1. a link to a Thought Post about Executive BrainSmarts, an introduction to our thoughts about Focus
 

Tags:

Brain: about the Human Brain

Thought Tweet #393

by Rick Baker
On Jan 18, 2012
Thought Tweet #393 “No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical.”
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
The Danish physicist, Niels Bohr, said that. And, Bohr's point applies in business. In business, we often hear people talk about 'doing the right things' as opposed to 'doing things right'. 'Doing things right' is all about doing process 'right'…doing a good job when performing logically-generated processes. 'Doing the right things' is about dealing with people 'right'...doing a good job when working with people.

Tags:

Hero Worship | Thinking as in Think and Grow Rich | Thought Tweets

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.