The Year is Almost Over

Operator Error
One morning in early 1990 I was flying a Cessna 150 on final approach for runway 5 into Lakeland. A, low time student pilot, I was doing some touch and goes (practicing landings and take offs) before work. At an altitude of ten feet or so I was a little fast and should have cut the throttle and eased back on the yoke as the plane settled earthward. Instead, in an effort to make her land before she was ready, I flew her onto the runway. At that speed the main gear hit, compressed, and bounced me back into the sky. Now at about twenty feet above the ground, in my inexperience, I did the worst thing possible. I pushed forward to force the plane back to the ground. And toward the ground she went too. She bounced again, more violently than before. The windshield pointed up and then down again. The plane found the ground. But this time the nose wheel hit first. The gear buckled. The propeller bent. The engine smashed into the tarmac. We were down.

I found myself hanging by my shoulder harness looking straight down out the windscreen at the runway surface. The tail of the plane was sticking straight into the air like some weird potted plant. I quickly switched off all electrical power, fearing fire. After a few seconds I turned the radio back on and told the tower that I had crashed but seemed to be unharmed. Of course, it was already obvious to them that I had wrecked the plane. They said that they'd send someone right out to get me. I turned off the radio, gingerly released my harness, lowered myself to the ground and waited on the asphalt for the emergency guys.

The ride to the terminal was a strange one. I was gravely embarrassed but glad to be alive.

At the airport a doctor checked me out and pronounced me uninjured. I filled out a bunch of forms for the FAA. Then I left to work my normal sales route.

It turned out that the rented plane was totaled. I ended up having to pay the deductable on the insurance which was $1,000, the only thousand I had. It was a few years before I returned to finish my pilot's training but I did, ultimately, become a competent flyer of airplanes.

I might be the only person you know who crashed an airplane and walked away. I learned a lot that day and I'll share it with you. Some things are better learned vicariously.

Planes must be flown. They'll go, within reason, where you tell them to go as long as you obey the rules of aerodynamics. On that day I was more of a passenger than a pilot. I was passively accepting the flight path instead of deliberately manipulating my speed, pitch and yaw to get down safely. I thought that I could just ride it right down to the ground without the niceties of active management. I discovered that the laws of physics are rather unforgiving.

I think that businesses might be like airplanes. You can use them to get where you want to go but only as a pilot and not as a mere rider. There are a lot of variables that will determine the success of your business. They change constantly. In the last couple of years a lot of them have changed so much that formerly great products don't get sold and old skills won't get you appointments or close deals. The winners in 2010 will be those who actively manage their businesses, not those who wait around hoping for a happy landing.

I heard a highly successful CEO speak the other day. He said, "Most managers are stewards of the inevitable".

Every flight instructor will tell you that the first rule is: fly the aircraft.

Copyright Mark Fitzgerald, 2009, All Rights Reserved.