Earlier this summer I spent a week in the Pyrenees with a good friend of mine who is a pilot. One of our conversations revolved around decision making, during which he said, "People make decisions based on what they want to happen and not on what is actually happening."

He illustrated his point by showing me the first 45 seconds of a video in which a light aircraft is seen attempting to land on a runway.

As we watched the footage, I asked about the decision making process that resulted in the unfortunate ending. My friend explained that whilst the final approach (which would have begun some three miles out from the
landing strip) was too fast, the pilot had probably made a firm decision to land long before the aircraft reached the runway, without considering other options such as going around and trying again.

With the situation changing rapidly, the pilot would have been actively selecting the information coming at him or her through the windscreen and instruments panel to reinforce the original decision to land. At the same time, the pilot was probably ignoring data which indicated that the aircraft would not stop in time.

This video got me thinking about how often we put the blinkers on and make decisions based purely on internal factors without talking into account external factors. This pilot's misfortune has reminded me to look outside my own 'cockpit' to see what's going on in my world before I make a crucial decision.