Page 128 - Never Fly Solo

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS | 101
Finally, if you are tumbleweed or losing situational aware-
ness, fess up early. The biggest problems develop when a
wingman fails to disclose a problem early and tries to solve it
on his or her own. The situation snowballs, and what could
have been solved with a simple correction turns into a bigger
situation that affects the entire mission.

DEBRIEF TO BUILD SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

It doesn’t help to wallow in the past, but you can certainly
debrief and learn from your mistakes. And if you do, you’ll
find that having a good comm plan and “radio-out” proce-
dures will keep you off tumbleweed status and help you avoid
some very nasty situations.
Ask the managers at JetBlue. Following a devastating bliz-
zard in the Northeast in the winter of 2007, the airline faced
thousands of customer complaints and paid out millions of
dollars after a series of bad communication incidents left pas-
sengers trapped in planes on the runway for up to ten and a
half hours. The company later explained that a series of com-
munication snafus between JetBlue and airport authorities
had forced the airline to keep passengers on the planes despite
their being parked right next to the terminal.
If the airline had decided to cancel flights earlier and had
a predetermined communication plan among JetBlue ground
personnel, flight crews, and airport authorities—not to men-
tion with the National Weather Service—the results would
have been a lot more pleasant for all involved.
What happened after JetBlue management sat down and
debriefed? The airline vowed to communicate in a more con-