July 23, 2009
Have you ever noticed when situations go abysmally wrong or when one misspeaks, especially as one ages, the unfortunate moment is almost always blamed on pilot error, just like when a plane crashes?
I have.
Some years back, I became interested in the occurrence of "pilot error" when I was a big fan of JAG (Judge Advocate General), the television legal drama about Navy lawyers that aired from 1995 to 2005.
For example, in Season 1, Episode 6, Lt. Pendry has a deadly crash during a test flight with his Tomcat. Characters Harm and Meg are ordered to probe the case with the facts pointing directly at pilot error, not a system malfunction. These cases are almost always pilot error like most things in life, they are told by their superiors.
Yes, indeed, the JAG brass were probably right; it is never any reason other than ourselves when we goof, is it?
No such luck. Our slipups always seems to be pilot error, our own fault, and unfortunately, many of us are guilty of pilot error on a regular basis, apparently in an increasing fashion as we age.
But, do we have to admit to this?
Well, I do not particularly want to and am getting quite tired of the aging process as well and the pilot error that accompanies it. I want a co-pilot or weather conditions to blame!
You know how it goes. For example, when the computer malfunctions, we call the tech guy. He then sheepishly must point out that we don't have the cord connected to the printer and that is why the document won't print. Pilot error.
Another case in point, we interchange our grandchildren and own children's names in a variety of curious ways. Once again, pilot error.
I, for one, continually get my grandkids' names mixed up and can rarely call my own children by their correct names either. If I don't straighten this out soon, I am going to have to create flow charts and spreadsheets.
Honestly, I thought I was bad at interchanging names until my neighbor told me that she recently called her granddaughter--Henry. (Henry is her cat.)
When we inadvertently say or do the wrong thing such as these, I used to think the only way out was to plead pilot error immediately not letting a moment pass, inject some humor into the situation and hope for mercy.
The other day I saw someone do the opposite. With braggadocio, he held his ground after making an embarrassing mistake. I was in a meeting when a well-meaning gentleman (we'll call him Jim) referred to the presenter as Bob, but the presenter's name happened to be Brad. Jim did this repeatedly throughout the meeting as we, the meeting participants, painfully squirmed in our chairs. When laughter finally broke the awkward silence in the room, the poor guy realized his gaffe and said, " Case in point: Bob, I mean Brad, you don't have name recognition."
Nice recovery, and he never said a word about pilot error. Wonder if I could get by with that?
Or perhaps this technique from another JAG episode might work.
Lt. Harm tries to explain a mistake to his commanding officer: "Sorry we're late, sir, we were misdirected."
The commander retorts: "Is that a pilot's way of saying lost, lieutenant?"
Lt. Harm: "Pilots don't get lost sir, they're momentarily disoriented."
That's the ticket; from now on I will be "momentarily disoriented" and will never admit to pilot error again.
