O
n January 15, 2009, the
crew of US Airways Flight
1549 experienced a never-
in-a-lifetime event.
Less than two minutes
after takeoff, some Canada geese
found their way into the airplane’s two
engines and brought them to a grind-
ing halt. Over the next three and a half
minutes, the crew managed to identify
the problem, decide what to do about
it, and execute what a former National
Transportation Safety Board member
called “the most successful ditch-
ing in aviation history.” How did the
crew begin this historic performance?
By uttering the same two words that
many of us come up with in a crisis:
“Oh crap.” Actually, the phrase was a
bit more profane, but you get the idea.
We all experience “oh crap” mo-
ments. Running into the person you
canceled a date with—while you’re
on another date. Realizing you hit
“reply all” on an e-mail that you’d do
anything to have back. Earthquakes,
medical emergencies—whatever the
situation, the first thing you probably
do is freak out. Everybody does. While
many of us think that we’re cool in a
crisis, science tells us that we seldom
are. At the moment we need to be
keenly aware of our surroundings, our
attention can tunnel in on the scariest
thing in the scene, leaving us oblivious
to the other sights, sounds, and even
smells around us. Armed robbers go
unidentified because witnesses re-
member little more than the guns. Ourability to remember the things we do
notice also becomes compromised; we
can be told something, and two sec-
onds later we’ll forget. And we jump to
conclusions. When we’re freaked out,
we’re anything but at our best.
These normal human reactions can
be reversed. Firefighters, Navy SEALs,
and snipers are taught how to bring
down their blood pressure, heart rates,
and respiratory rates quickly, as well
as help rein in over-reactive nervous
systems. Box breathing, belly breath-
ing, hum breathing—you can learn
these techniques in minutes. Once
you calm down, you’ll encounter the
most routinely ignored challenge of
any crisis situation—identifying accu-
rately what all the fuss is really about.
We are apt to misdiagnose prob-
lems during moments of crisis be-
cause we don’t practice for them. Do
the thinking ahead of time so you
can just fire off the solution when it’s
showtime. This is why flight atten-
dants suggest you find the closest exit
before you depart—so you don’t have
to go exit shopping after the plane has
caught fire or is sinking into a river.
Sometimes we aren’t prepared with
all the knowledge we need. Let’s say
we’re on a hike and a bear shows up. Is
the bear the one that we’re supposed
to back away from slowly, or is that a
shark? I know that I’m supposed to
sucker punch one of those two ani-
mals, but I can’t remember which one.
Better to read suggestions on how to
respond before heading into the wild.rd.com 119hu
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