Post by newflyer on Oct 8, 2015 19:58:19 GMT
4 - Invulnerability
I've never been more shocked than the day I broke my leg skiing. I was 12 years old and way over my head on an icy slope. I lost control and slammed into an innocent bystander. My leg snapped like a frozen twig. I was dumb-founded. It was simply impossible that such a thing could happen to me. Accidents like this were only supposed to happen to other people.
Perhaps our built-in sense of invulnerability is a survival mechanism that allows us to cope with the prospect of injury or death. If we truly believed that we would be injured or killed each time we climbed into the cockpit of an airplane, we'd never turn the starter. Of course we don't think we're going to crash. We tend to believe that accidents happen to other pilots; besides, virtually all the factors that affect safety are under our direct control. We know that as long as we make good decisions, we should never have an accident.
However, this feeling of invulnerability should always be tempered by an equally strong sense of caution. Otherwise, this important survival mechanism becomes a serious safety liability. We may fail to stop and consider the very real risks that are involved in the actions we take.
I've never been more shocked than the day I broke my leg skiing. I was 12 years old and way over my head on an icy slope. I lost control and slammed into an innocent bystander. My leg snapped like a frozen twig. I was dumb-founded. It was simply impossible that such a thing could happen to me. Accidents like this were only supposed to happen to other people.
Perhaps our built-in sense of invulnerability is a survival mechanism that allows us to cope with the prospect of injury or death. If we truly believed that we would be injured or killed each time we climbed into the cockpit of an airplane, we'd never turn the starter. Of course we don't think we're going to crash. We tend to believe that accidents happen to other pilots; besides, virtually all the factors that affect safety are under our direct control. We know that as long as we make good decisions, we should never have an accident.
However, this feeling of invulnerability should always be tempered by an equally strong sense of caution. Otherwise, this important survival mechanism becomes a serious safety liability. We may fail to stop and consider the very real risks that are involved in the actions we take.