Nov 5

5 Hazardous Attitudes

Yesterday it rained...all...day. The dog stumbled through puddles and never completely dried off. The new rose carpet now smells like wet dog. The house lost electricity around dusk. And so we waited for light, waited for supper, waited for the furnace. The airplane does not have a winter home, wouldn't start despite a new battery, and we did not have enough energy to hand prop it. The key to the skis didn't work. And it is still raining this morning. In danger of gray November, I am "slouching towards Bethlehem", soggy, listless, cold and raw. "The center cannot hold".


Of the 5 hazardous attitudes in aviation, November mostly brings forth resignation.

These hazardous attitudes are said to contribute to poor pilot judgment. Instead of saying, "Oh, poor me, what's the use? I'm going to let this plane crash into the house", you take charge. Recognition of a hazardous attitude is the first step in neutralizing it.

You repeat the antidote to resignation. "I am not helpless. I can make a difference." And you say it loud enough to drown out the naggy background voice chanting, "What's the use what's the use what's the use..." And then you wave a banner, sound the trumpets, and charge.

In the emergency room, standing on a little step stool so you can see the desperately ill patient (who looks a lot like November), slightly above all the people starting IVs, wielding paddles of electricity, chest pumpers, endotracheal tube stuffers, lab runners, all people looking to you to conduct the orchestration, you take your own pulse first and then you take charge.