THE TENSE MOMENTS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 100, 22 January 1927, Page 24

THE TENSE MOMENTS

HUMAN FACTORS IN AIR CRASHES Sometimes, watching an expert bil-liards-player and seeing him make shot after shot with uncanny precision, one has the impression that he will never stop; and. then, suddenly, to one’s surprise, he breaks down at a simple stroke. A problem of psychology this, and there are similar psychological problems which are engaging attention tn connection with aeroplane crashes in our Roval Air Force (savs Harry Harper in the “Daily News”). The most egpert exponents of anv art have moments when, often through fatigue, their superlative skill deserts them. Occasionally it may not even be fatigue, but just’ carelessness or inattention. Or the very skill they possess may make them over-confident. Tn one’s mind as one writes is a certain R.A.F. fatality. Here you had a man of extraordinary dexterity in flying. He had just been doing .wonder-, ful things un in tne air. then lie canw down for a spell, and on reascending was guilty near the ground of a mistake which a pupil at a flvmgschool would have been careful to avoid He “stalled” his machine, or lost flying speed; and the result was that lie crashed. Accidents such as these are the penalty of some perfectly human lapse, of a mistake which— remembering that in flving one cannot .afford to make mistakes—exacts the dire consequence of death. , . , . There are danger periods which investigations now show to exist. It is not when an Air Force Pilot is learning to flv that there is special risk.; nor in the phase when he is becoming proficient. But there is a definite dangertime when, having become a practical pilot and vet with his confidence untempered bv experience, he may do something foolish simple because his cleverness is not tinged by’ sufficient caution. Again, later, mav come a dangerspell when a pilot of vast experience is guilty, through the carelessness born of familiarity, of some trifling, error near the ground which, despite his skill, he cannot remedy before his machine crashes. Remembering that an air force has during times of peace to prepare itself constantly for war, such problems of psx’diologv are specially difficult. One plight buy almost completely safety by refusing to allow one’s pilots to do anything potentially riskv. But in that case one would develop a mediocre force which would receive scant mercy from the daring pilots of some dashing enemy service. No; the solution does not lie there. Our pilots must as a matter of fact be encouraged within reason to be bold—to show' spirit and initiative. But at the same time thev must be reminded constantly of the need for vigilance while in’the air. It must be borne always upon their minds that the. penalty for error mav be death.. Furthermore, and this .is ' a point now’ .receiving particular attention—each man must be watched individually in bis flving Not onlv his physical strength but his condition mentally from dav to dav must be a matter of unobtrustive concern. Any sign of “staleness” or of nerves must be looked for closely. And if he seems off colour he must remain for a time on, tlm ground. It is a human hand, a human eye, a human brain, which are in control of the winged projectiles we now’ send hurtling through the skv; and the enforce which studies most closely the vspchologv of its pilots will be able to render’ itself most efficient for anv "rent emergency with the least loss of life in peace-time crashes.