As I write this, I have just returned from attending the NTSB Final hearing on Continental Connection Flight 3407 here in Washington, DC. I sat in the front row beside Scott Maurer, father of Lorin Maurer, one of the victims of this tragedy; a man I have come to know as a friend. He is one of the leaders of the Buffalo families group, a group of people who are doing more for our profession than any of us ever could. They spend their own time and their own money lobbying in Washington for change to make sense out of the deaths of their loved ones, to ensure that the misfortune that has befallen them, never visits any other person or their families. People call me a hero. I’ll be the first one to tell you that I am not. Certainly to hold me up against people such as the Buffalo families cheapens the word. They are the true heroes and examples for all of us. No group of people could exemplify the term, hero, more than they.
The accident was a simple one, yet hauntingly complex. Much has been said about the cockpit crew’s violation of the sterile cockpit rule, yet it didn’t really factor into the accident. There was icing, but it was not a causal factor. Perhaps the crew was fatigued, but probably no more so than any of us at the end of a long day of flying.
The cause? An improperly set airspeed bug; the aircraft’s ice switch which raises the stick shaker speed 15 knots above normal activation speed, and the Captains’ mishandling of the aircraft after getting the stick shaker in a perfectly flyable aircraft. While the blame was largely placed on Captain Marvin Renslow, the true culprit was a more insidious one in our industry today, a clear lack of experience in the cockpit and an associated lack of professionalism from the flight crew.
While it sounds as if it would be easy, professionalism is a difficult thing to maintain as a pilot. You read in the papers how pilots are overpaid, underworked dilettantes. Management treats us worse than entry-level employees at a fast food chain. The customers often act as if they have no respect at all for the jobs we do. It’s difficult to maintain a self-view of an airline career as a profession. I’m as guilty as anyone of that. But there aren’t many careers where the decisions you make in a moment, can have life or death implications on so many people. If there were any career that demands professionalism, an airline pilot would be it.
That being said, I’m going to ask you to put aside the 90% of the job we all hate and concentrate on the 10% we love. You are a professional, in every definition of the word. Carry yourself as a professional at work, at home, wherever you might be. When you’re headed out for a flight, leave the leather jacket at home and wear your hat. Act as if the life of every passenger behind you depends on your skill, your experience and your knowledge - because it does. When you’re holding short waiting for take-off clearance - run through the engine failure procedures in your mind. When you’re on vectors to intercept the localizer - say those go-around commands over to yourself. Keep the conversation about the company and family until you’re above 10,000 feet. If you don’t do it for me, do it for Scott Maurer and the rest of the Buffalo families.
We have all seen a tremendous degradation in our careers over the last 10 years; let’s not let our professionalism as aviators be a victim to that. Captain Marvin Renslow and I have had an experience that, luckily, few of you will ever see. The one message I can give you to take away from this – is that you never know what day, what hour, what moment…your entire career, if not your life, will be judged. Make every moment a good one.
