Flying Lessons - In Which the Blogger Attends Flight School - Episode One

Lufthansa student pilot Katharina Spilles
practices in the flight simulator

A half dozen beaming faces greeted me as I entered the dormitory at Lufthansa’s flight school at Phoenix Goodyear Airport in Arizona last night. This was a warm welcome from these heart-breakingly young student pilots.

Now that I'm on the scene consider what they will have to put up with. A woman old enough to be their mother will now be hangin’ with them in the student lounge, peering over their shoulders in the simulator, and saying a fervent prayer as I join them in the school's single-engine Bonanzas. Them bein’ pilots and all, I’m not expecting to have to tell any of them to pipe down upon returning to quarters at three in the morning after a late night of carousing but who knows?

The most gracious welcome though, has to be from Lufthansa German Airlines, the carrier that has agreed to let me spend time here, learning how their pilots are selected and trained as part of the new book I’m writing, FLYING LESSONS.

Loyal readers, you know I’ve been touting the idea that aviation is so far advanced in its understanding of human factors, that many concepts could be used to improve how people perform in other industries. And it seems to me even more important in these days of distraction as everyone juggles more and more streams of information on a myriad of devices.

Over dinner in the academy cafeteria last night with Matthias Kippenberg, president of the Airline Training Center Arizona, we talked about the swell of digital interruptions and the different ways we deal with them.

When he is in the middle of a project, Matthias, a former Lufthansa captain and himself a graduate of the training center says does not stop to take a phone call, or open a newly arrived email.These things can wait as he concentrates on the work at hand.

By contrast, my behavior is more like Alice in Wonderland’s trip down the rabbit hole, as I repeatedly interrupt work on writing assignments to check my email, conduct Google searches, consult my to-do list, and take phone calls. I’m not alone. I see this kind of behavior all over the place, drivers on the phone, movie goers sending text messages. Heck, at my son’s school, students are allowed to listen to their iPods while taking tests.

Is this a problem? I suspect it is. Is complaining about it worthwhile? It isn't. It is what it is.

Which takes me back to the disciplined Capt. Kippenberg. Training and practice have instilled in him a habit of sustained focus in spite of the fact that the typical airplane cockpit is awash in distractions.
In hiring student pilots, Lufthansa looks for applicants who have an ability to multi-task. Workflow management, whatever you call it,  it all adds up to the same thing, performance depends on the ability to triage multiple streams of information setting aside the peripheral and ignoring the irrelevant.

Gathered with a group of five young men in the common area of the dorm Tuesday night, I learned something that gave this easily-distracted matron new hope. These kids are special, sure. But they weren't necessarily born that way. A number said they rely on newly-learned techniques that help them manage incoming information.
Well that means I can learn it too.
So while I may not leave here with the ability to fly solo on any of the little planes with the fetching blue and orange livery, I'm already getting useful life lessons at flight school.