There are some industries and occupations that are more forgiving than others.
By that, I mean that the consequences of bad decisions are not that painful, easily forgotten or written off with a financial/other penalty. Aviation is not that type of industry for reasons that I don’t need to be explicit about.
A large part of my pedagogy as an instructor pilot is that you are going to make poor decisions and mistakes in the cockpit. it’s just going to happen. Period. They are unavoidable.
BUT, as pilots, we strive to keep mistakes small and catch poor decisions early. If we can do that and not let them compound into a negative chain of events, we greatly improve our chances of a safe landing, which is the ultimate goal.
I have been meaning to write about this for a long time because I believe in it so strongly. Thankfully, I read a blog post by Fred Wilson this morning about his mistakes in the VC world, and it reminded me to write this. I’d say 7 of 10 his blog posts are direct analogs to aviation. I’m amazed at how closely aviation mirrors many other aspects of life.
