James Lawther is my guest writer this issue. James doesn’t pretend to be a leadership expert, but he is fascinated by how organisations work, so he writes about process improvement and employee engagement at www.squawkpoint.com instead.
The evening of 25th January 1990 was a horrible, windy and foggy. All along the east coast of the United States planes were struggling. During its journey, Flight 52 had been held in 3 separate holding patterns before it was finally cleared for landing.
Whilst the plane was making its descent towards the airport, the wind direction changed suddenly and the plane plunged toward the runway; it was forced to climb rapidly and was asked to circle around to make a second approach.
6 minutes later the plane crashed into a hillside 16 miles from the airport. 8 of the 9 crewmembers and 65 of the 149 passengers on board were killed. The fatalities would have been much worse but fortunately the plane didn’t burst into flames on impact, there wasn’t any fuel left to burn.
Why didn’t the plane land earlier?
It had been circling in its final holding pattern above New York for over half an hour and was in constant contact with air traffic control. The Colombian plane could easily have diverted to Philadelphia or Boston or been given a priority landing – plenty of other planes landed in that last 30 minutes.
The crew was well aware that the plane was running out of fuel.
Even after the first aborted landing attempt they could have spun back around for a second attempt, yet they were asked to climb and re-enter a holding pattern.
What did the black box say?
Every word was recorded on the plane. The pilots were panicking; they were under no illusions about their predicament.
At the inquest after the crash the only surviving crew member, one of the flight attendants, testified that when she had entered the cockpit to see how bad the situation was the co-pilot pointed at the fuel gauge and cut his throat with his finger.
It was a simple misunderstanding
The Columbians had repeatedly told Air Traffic Control about their lack of fuel.
- They needed “priority”
- “… We’ll be able to hold about five minutes that’s all we can do”
- “(Our alternate) was Boston but we can’t do it now we, we, don’t, we run out of fuel now.”
But every plane that lands is running out of fuel. It is more than dangerous to land a plane that is laden down with gallons of highly inflammable aviation fuel.
Running low on fuel isn’t anything new to an air traffic controller.
Unfortunately the Colombians just hadn’t been able to explain quite how bad the situation was. The air traffic controllers simply didn’t realise.
We communicate differently
After the tragedy the Columbians sued the Americans and the Americans blamed the Columbians, all over a simple misunderstanding.
The Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede has developed a set of factors to explain how cultures vary from one another. One of these factors is the “power distance index”. It shows how members of a society respond to those who are to those in positions of power.
Americans are a bunch of straight talkers. They have a low “power distance index”.
Colombians however keep their thoughts to themselves. They are always polite and non confrontational with their superiors.
An American pilot about to run out of fuel would have given an Air Traffic Controller no room for doubt about the situation, yet a Columbian would put it very differently.
After the failed landing attempt the black box recorded the conversation between the crew and controllers.
Air Traffic Control: I’m gonna bring you about 15 miles northeast and turn you back onto the approach. Is that OK with you and your fuel?
Crew: I guess so. “Thank you very much”.
The Air Traffic Controller had unwittingly signed their death warrants and the crew said, “Thank you very much.”
What has this got to do with Leadership?
To be a good leader you have to have a vision and be able to articulate it, motivate and inspire others. Fundamentally leadership is all about communication.
But you can’t communicate if you don’t listen.
Especially to the quiet people.
