Anatomy Of A “Miracle”: How US Airway Flight 1549 Provides Insight Into Improving Our Relationships by Steve Amarante

By now we’ve all seen the images, a commercial aircraft floating in the Hudson, an improbable landing with a miraculous Hollywood ending.  In a time of financial turmoil, a world in chaos with unilateral wars in the Middle East and global energy constrains, the events that unfolded in a cold afternoon in the greatest city in the world could not have come at a better time.  It was haled a miracle—but a closer assessment will reveal a series of “miracles”, miracles that provide valuable lesson in improving our personal relationships.

Any proper dissection of the events of January 15, 2009 must first start off with appreciating the improbability of plane crashes, much less water landings. Studies after studies unequivocally prove that planes are the safest form of transportation. Modern aviation is as reliable as the IRS knocking on your door if you don’t pay your taxes. Air travel is so safe that in order for a plane to go down it takes a series of sequential events. As Malcolm Galdwell points out in his recent bestseller Outliers The Story of Success:

“Plane crashes are much more likely to be the result of an accumulation of minor difficulties and seemingly trivial malfunctions. In a typical crash, for example, the weather is poor-not terrible, necessarily, but bad enough that the pilot feels a little bit more stressed than usual. In an overwhelming number of crashes, the plane is behind schedule, so the pilots are hurrying. In 52 percent of crashes, the pilot at the time of the accident has been awake for twelve hours or more, meaning that he is tired and not thinking sharply. And 44 percent of the time, the two pilots has never flown together before, so they’re not comfortable with each other. Then the errors start—and it not just one error. The typical accident involves seven consecutive human errors.  One of the pilots does something wrong that by itself is not a problem. Then one of them makes another error on top of that, which combined with the first error, still does not amount to catastrophe. But then they make third error on top of that, and then another and another and another and another, and it is the combination of all those errors that leads to disaster.”

Just as a combination of seemingly trivial malfunctions lead to disaster-its a series of micro events that lead to a “Miracle on the Hudson”.  Consider the following seemingly trivial variables:

1.    The weather conditions allowed the plane to take off in a specific flight pattern leading towards the Hudson River.

2.    Although NYC had gone thru its longest stretch of cold weather the water temperature where such that the Hudson River, at that stretch wasn’t frozen. A frozen river would have lead to a much more “forceful” landing, possibly fragmenting the plane.

3.    The plane was full of business traveler-Individuals who have heard the safety instructions a million times and most likely, had experience abnormal turbulence in prior flights. Yes, they where probably frighten beyond imagination, but not paralyzed in fear. If that had been a plane full of tourist and families with kids off on vacation (say a flight to Aruba or Cancun) I question that they would have demonstrated such calm.  

4.    The Plane landed near boats. If it lands in the long Island sound you may not have had the number of boats in close proximity—impeding rescue efforts.

5.    The plane was flying to Charlotte, which by policy the airline fly’s that route with less gas in the wings. This reduces drag/weight consuming less gas, thus reducing cost. But the important part here is that with less gas in the wings there is more AIR, allowing for better buoyancy. The same might not said for an international flight-which would have required a large amount of fuel.

6.    And of course there was “Sully”, the pilot who was cooler then the water he landed on, with years of training and teaching other pilots how to manage such catastrophe, now in retrospect seemly preparing for that one single moment on the Hudson.

As I contemplate January 15th, I can think of at least 5 other variables, each like the ones mentioned above, no single “big” event, all seemly unrelated and who if unfolded independently wouldn’t have set off a single alarm.
Taken from this perspective it was in fact a SERIES of miracles that afternoon which landed that plane, just as it’s a series of events, all appearing unrelated and small which lead to disaster and catastrophes in our personal relationships.

The list of variable above can seemingly be replace with common, albeit small, “events”, which corrode our relationship:

1.    Not doing dishes
2.    Money concerns
3.    In-laws
4.    Lack of “quality” time
5.    Lack of public and private affection

The list can go on and on-but remember this can easily become a list of micro miracles. It’s all about your point of view. Maybe this week you do the dishes, perhaps you spend some quality time and show your significant others some affection, just keep in mind that it can potentially lead to creating your own personal Miracle On The Hudson. Finally, the last lesson, rather message in flight 1549 is that of fragility. No one is assured tomorrow; make the most of today. Live a life of passion and hope, live with the symbolic member of how the people standing on the wings of the plane look as they where literally walking on water…

Survival Tip: All planes are required to have what is called a “Black Box”, a recorder registering every element that transpires from take off to landing.  What if you had a relationship “black box”? What if you where to track the events, which on the surface seem insignificant but perhaps are eating away at or conversely improving your relationships? Well, look no further! That is the future of www.Luvjungle.com! Stay tune and don’t forget…

…Share The Water!

Steve Amarante
www.luvjungle.com

Reference:
Outliers: The Story Of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html

Comments

[Jamie360]

Nice post. The fragility portion is unrated. I wouldn't go as far as labeling the event as Miracle--that give no credit to all the years of training put in by both sully and the co-pilot.