Whether you are the pilot or a beginner crew, the "Y" in safety is always YOU? The focus of this series is safety and human behavior. The objective is to take a light hearted look at the behavioral tendencies of ourselves and others, and then relate the information to the decisions balloonists make where safety is concerned.
Reviewing Parts 1 & 2, ballooning is a people sport and you can benefit by learning more about people. People feel, think, and act differently. A simple way to learn about these differences is by using four separate descriptive behavioral tendencies, Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C). Each person has varying degrees of these tendencies, but in most cases one tendency will be more predominant.
The quiz at the end of Part 2, about the TV show Cheers, can give you practice recognizing the different behavioral tendencies. For the answers, ask yourself the following questions. On the TV show, who dominates most of the situations, most of the time (HIGH-D)? If you answered Carla, you’re off to a good start. Who is most interested in other people (HIGH-I)? Sam is, even though most of his interest is with those of the opposite sex. Who is resistant to change (HIGH- S),? Of course it’s Cliff, the government worker who lives with his mom, and Norm, the one who "owns" the chair at the end of the bar. Also, Woody has HIGH- S tendencies because he finds security in relating to his hometown. Who are the ones that continue to prove, by using facts, they are right (HIGH-C)? The common bond between Lillith and Frasier is their HIGH-C tendencies.
The answer to the second part of the quiz, who’s most likely to look forward to Part 3, is a HIGH-D if they read part 2 and feel it will help them stay in control. It’s a HIGH-I if they discovered how much fun they can have by knowing more about people. A HIGH-S if they are having some "people challenges" and view this series as a way to learn how to eliminate the conflict. A HIGH- C if they want more information about the D, I, S, C, and if we’re not making too many mistakes.
Safety Area One of the Ballooning Operation (explained at the end of Part 2) covers decisions made by balloonists when "no one else" is involved. It includes, but is not limited to, the following? Preflight physical and stress assessment; other preflight checks such as weather, wind direction, and equipment readiness; flight and ground operations; inspections and maintenance of equipment; and for pilots, the five Hazardous Attitudes. Keep in mind that regardless of whether anyone else is involved, decisions you make will ultimately affect others.
While gathering data from balloonists at balloon rallies, we asked the question, "Can you describe a safe balloonist?? The answers we got fell in four basic categories. A safe balloonist is 1) An individual who takes charge, 2) Someone who is not so serious, 3) One who is prepared, and 4) A person who does things right. Do you recognize the D, I, S, C tendencies in these answers? If you don’t, you might want to re- read last month’s Part 2.
When analyzing the results of a ballooning accident study, we discovered that no particular behavioral tendency is immune to powerline accidents. The headline on the study read, "A review of powerline accidents reveals that the cause is 99% pilot error.? Following the headline were four categories of errors with explanations (we added the behavioral tendencies in parenthesis).
Ballooning safety and how it’s influenced by the different behavioral tendencies is best explained by analyzing ballooning situations. The easiest and least costly situations to analyze are OPEs (other people’s experiences). One source of OPEs is this publication. On page 50 of the October 1991 issue of Balloon Life, there was an article called "Navajo Bridge." It’s about a balloon flight that took place at the upper end of the Grand Canyon. The crew dared the pilot to do a splash and dash in the Colorado River, which "naturally" is at the bottom of the canyon. The pilot’s response was, "Don’t ever dare a hot air balloon pilot!" The pilot succeeded in getting into the water, but the river was flowing opposite the wind direction. Barely being able to free himself from the river, he used so much fuel he had to land on the Navajo Bridge that crosses the canyon. His crew wouldn’t go out on the bridge to help him because a sign at the end of the bridge said there was a $500 fine for walking on the bridge. Well, his crew finally went out on the bridge. The result was a close call and a relatively happy ending.
Looking at this from a behavioral standpoint, the pilot had to have some HIGH- D tendencies just to fly into the canyon, and a HIGH-D is more apt to look at a dare as a challenge. Balloonists with HIGH-I tendencies will also take a dare, but they do it for social approval. If a HIGH-S takes a dare, they probably thought about it first and saw little risk involved. A HIGH-C isn’t as prone to such child’s play. In this case, the pilot was probably HIGH- I most of the time for two reasons. First of all, he told us about his experience. Second, before the flight, he seemed excited that "he and his crew" had the opportunity to experience this adventure.
His crew, at least the one in charge, that didn’t want to go out on the bridge must have been a HIGH-S for thinking about having to pay a $500 fine. The crew member would have been a HIGH-C if the sign had just said, "Don’t walk on the bridge," because he wouldn’t want to break the rules. A HIGH-I would have just run out on the bridge and later said, "Well, I didn’t walk!" A HIGH- D would have not hesitated either because someone needed to do something, now? Oh, the Beautiful Differences in People!
It’s possible to take any ballooning situation, analyze it, and determine the behavioral tendencies of those involved, assuming you get the straight scoop. We randomly picked up a back issue of Balloon Life and read "Hangar Flying" by George Denniston (an excellent place to learn from OPEs). It was the November 1994 issue and the title of the story was "Icarus." It was about a pilot who flew one evening in unfamiliar territory of western Washington state. Several local balloon pilots also flew that evening and told the visiting pilot to follow them to keep out of trouble. The advice was ignored and the visitor was forced to land in a tree well after dark, and not too far from some major powerlines.
From a behavioral standpoint, we decided the visiting pilot didn’t write the article, but probably had HIGH-I tendencies, which included optimism. Also, his HIGH-D tendencies were not very high because he spent an hour on a tree branch recovering from the scare. Second, the writer of the article was probably one of the other pilots and had HIGH-S tendencies because the article was quite detailed about what it takes to survive a flight in that neck of the woods. Third, the other local pilots lacked HIGH-D tendencies, or they would have more forcefully explained the dangers of flying above the ridge (which someone should have done).
The Safety Value of this OPE brings us back to the beginning of this article where we said, "The ‘Y’ in safety is always YOU!" Those of us who have been ballooning awhile can think back and remember a time when, if we had been a little more outgoing about safety to another pilot or crew, we could have possibly changed a bad situation. So, when someone offers you safety advice, listen. If you have HIGH-D tendencies, don’t take it personally. If you have HIGH-I tendencies, realize that you are not just being offered conversation. If you have HIGH-S tendencies, evaluate what they have to say and make the necessary changes. And, if you have HIGH-C tendencies, the advice is meant to help, and it doesn’t have to come from a PhD in ballooning to be valid.
This part of the series wouldn’t be complete unless the pilot’s "Five Hazardous Attitudes" were taken into account. The Balloon Federation of America (BFA) has developed a continuing education program called "Back-to-Basics." One of the four topics is "Aeronautical Decision Making." One of the suggested areas of this topic is "Self Assessment of Hazardous Attitudes." Until next month, can you relate the D, I, S, C behavioral tendencies to the following five, not so good, attitudes. 1) Anti-Authority, "Don’t tell me!" 2) Impulsivety, "Do something quickly!" 3) Invulnerability, "It won’t happen to me." 4) Macho, "I can do it!" 5) Resignation, "What’s the use."
Next month the fun continues with Part 4. We’ll be taking a look at Safety Area Two which covers decisions made with people "directly" involved in the ballooning operation. We’ll be exploring ways you can create a safer ballooning environment by interacting more effectively with the different behavioral tendencies. Also, a section on Pilot-Crew Compatibility will offer you insight into your past and future ballooning experiences. You can send your comments to 429 Kimmeridge Drive, Baton Rouge LA 70815- 6924.