There is a principle of human behavior that can probably be assigned some
designation by psychologists or sociologists, but it has a practical aspect
that can be identified. (My qualifications for talking about this come from
many years of investigating and writing about aircraft accidents.)
The “syndrome” can be summed up in a personal statement: “Well, doing THAT
is a bit dangerous, but I have now done it so many times for so many years
and it hasn’t killed me, that I’m probably immune to the danger.”
The most famous of all aviation practitioners of it, I think, was Chuck
Yeager, who had a kind of creative adaptation. Yeager was captured
beautifully by Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff saying, “Any ordinary pilot
would get killed doing something like that. So I only did it when I was
feeling really up to snuff.” If you review Yeager’s career carefully, you
will see that he survived some things that were not only unsafe, but so
stupidly dangerous that you would have to give him a psych exam if an airman
did it today.
I don’t let myself off the hook here. Going on deck without flotation is
something that a lot of us do, and some of us can even rationalize when it’s
good weather and easy sailing, as opposed to rough and cold. It has never
killed us yet, so maybe it never will . .
If you think about it, the same syndrome suffices for other behaviors. For
instance, I smoked heavily for 17 years. For at least 10 or 12 of those
years, I understood it was dangerous. It was only when I became convinced
that smoking was definitely going to kill me (I woke up every day with sore
lungs) that I finally took the steps to quit for real. That was 24 years
ago, luckily for me.
Regards,
Dave S. (Demitri)
On 5/19/08 1:59 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I'm glad the story had a happy ending but I have to ask why it was they were
> racing without wearing PFD's - especially in cold water.
> --
> Dave
> Cape Cod
>
>
>> -------------- Original message --------------
>> From: "Sneddon, Keith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> I would add, if the water‚s cold (below 60 deg F), wear drysuits for deck
>> work.
>>
>>
>> Keith Sneddon
>> Chief Engineer
>> Mechanized Systems
>> Defense Systems
>> Ph: 631-630-4092 Fax: 631-630-4244
>> Cell: 516-313-7420 e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On December 20, 2007, EDO Corporation merged with ITT Corporation to form a
>> top-ten U.S. defense supplier. Visit us at www.defense.itt.com
>> <http://www.defense.itt.com/>
>>
>>
>> From: [email protected]
>> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Techlin
>> Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 1:22 PM
>> To: [email protected]
>> Subject: catalina27-talk: Fwd: FW: MOB incident in Saginaw Bay
>>
>>
>> Fellow Listees,
>>
>>
>>
>> Thought I would share this sobering reminder with the rest of the C-27 gang,
>> There but for the Grace of God ....
>>
>>
>>
>> Tehlin
>>
>> "GUSTY"
>>
>> Note: forwarded message attached.
>>
>
