How to Deal with Complexity Like a Pilot (Part 1)

A professional pilot has a low maximum cap on active hours. When limits are exceeded (or will be exceeded for a planned flight), the flight does not happen.

A pilot operates a system that's been carefully tuned and designed for maximum reliability and safety (within economic and performance constraints).

A pilot operates in a largely uncontended space, with little need for unanticipated close coordination with others. Where coordination with others is required, that is virtually always managed through a third-party resource, air traffic control. Where direct pilot coordination with other craft is required (outside of combat, competition, or demonstrations), things are already going poorly.

A pilot is specifically rated to the equipment they operate.

A pilot's equipment is highly standardised and regulated, with safety top of mind.

A pilot has a large team managing the logistics of fueling, prepping, staffing, maintaining, servicing, checking, and navigating their equipment, as well as managing cargo and/or passengers.

A pilot spends more time in training and practice, specifically for rare-but-criticial emergency scenarios, than they do in actual operation of their aircraft. The more complex the craft and mission, the greater the training overhead.

A pilot in professional capacity virtually always has fully-redundant staffing (a co-pilot), and often multiple fully-redundant staffing (relief and check pilots).

A pilot has final say over destination and deadlines. When an emergency situation develops, the pilot has final say over whether or not the emergency exists, its nature, and the resolution. Other parties may advise. The pilot decides.

A pilot does plan and communicate. Practices are governed by checklists, manuals, processes, procedures and training. Pre-flight and in-flight briefings are specifically indicated. It's possible for a previously unencountered circumstance to arise. It is very, very rare. When they do, in-cockpit communications ("cockpit resource management") is also actively trained and encouraged. Those conversations are recorded, on media which will survive all but the very most extreme adverse events, after which they will be studied exhaustively by multiple experts.

The fine article is ... distressingly misleading.

Decision fatigue is a real thing. Some people live in a different reality of resource scarcity, kids, far-less-than-ideal partners, multiple jobs etc. When your brain is fatigued, it’s almost impossible to think or absorb new information. When you are constantly fatigued, you get into chronic stress and start making more bad decisions which, (when unchecked) leads to a really negative cycle. It doesn’t take an emergency to create a situation where your brain can’t process information fast enough to respond to a dynamic environment.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s crucial to stop and think in these scenarios to figure out what direction to go in order to fix the situation. It’s just really difficult because of the tendency towards perceived urgent (important/not) action.

As a pilot, training is paired with thought to encourage constant improvement while making most activities second nature so that a lot of complexity is managed sub-consciously. Asking “What happens if your engine fails right now” is a prime example of helping a new pilot think about how they can modify their procedure to better prepare for that outcome. That’s especially the case when paired with “so what do you think you could have done better” afterwards, usually on the ground. There is even an informal checklist to help a pilot not enter a scenario where they might not make reasonable decisions. (IMSAFE)

Thanks for your insight on sailing! It seems like a neat world from the outside. :)