My interest in aviation started at a young age, but not with the typical aspiration to be a mechanic, engineer, or pilot like so many other kids. I wanted to know what made planes crash – not fly. My parents had the initial horrified reaction that anybody reading that statement would have. My first fascination wasn’t with your “typical” plane crash either, it was with EgyptAir Flight 990. I was obsessed with finding out what really happened (and still am).
Through time my career and education brought me different places in pursuit of becoming an aircraft accident investigator. I had the privilege of working as a mechanic, flight school manager, and as an aviation technical writer, all with excellent advisors to guide me along the way. I learned to fly airplanes, then helicopters, and then I found a mentor at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a technical writer who helped me plot my true course. I went on to earn my Masters in Safety Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), where my passion was realized.
I received mentorship from some of the best in the business, rubbed elbows with industry leaders, and collaborated with experts seen on television. However, my most notable privilege was meeting and dining with Captain Al Haynes, Captain of United Airlines Flight 232. Captain Haynes expertly employed crew resource management to land a critically disabled DC-10 in 1989 in Sioux City, Iowa. His very humble recount of events had a profound impact on my own career.
In his lecture, Captain Haynes acknowledged all of the people that had an impact on the successful outcome of the flight. Although 111 people lost their lives that day, 185 survived – a miracle considering the crew could not control the aircraft due to a catastrophic engine failure that knocked out the hydraulics. He took the time to recognize the contributions of each person from the emergency crews, air traffic controllers, United maintenance technicians, and fellow crewmembers. He even acknowledged the people who wrote the manuals they used to work through the emergency.
It was with his words that I realized that I could make a big difference before any accident. By participating in preventative exercises, like in the planning for the local airport’s mass casualty/emergency response plan and authoring safety and training manuals, I found my niche in aviation safety.
Captain Haynes reminded me of the importance of words. They are the message you send to your employees and passengers letting them know they are valued. Words matter. Every manual is made up of thousands of terms, each with a special meaning or even multiple meanings. Each word plucked with care and intention from the lexicon and combined with punctuation to form a sentence. Each sentence has an intention. Each paragraph: a purpose; each chapter: a message; and each manual: a value.
– Kristina Larson, JETPUBS Inc.