Human Ingenuity Saved the Day for Plane in Crisis
In November of 2010, a Qantas airplane lost an engine as it flew over Indonesia. The article, titled “Human Ingenuity Saves the Day for Plane in Crises,” reminded me of the Mount Everest case in that the pilots had a small window of time in which to save the plane of perish.
In addition to the two pilots in the pit, two other pilots (captains) were on the flight. It’s noted that between them they had 100 years of experience. Still, the four pilots had to work together and remain relatively calm to safely land the plane. Although the article doesn’t explicitly discuss management, I assume that training procedures at Qantas addresses the preferred way to handle emergency situations. For example, the pilots had instructions (in a manual) on how to handle error messages. However, with over 50 error messages flashing across the screen and visible flames near a wing, the four pilots had to divide and prioritize tasks.
This example isn’t directly related to course topics since the management trail and company culture isn’t noted in the article. However, the pilots are a great example of an ad hoc team working seamlessly together in a time of great crises.