> I would have assumed that coming to terms with a lack of control was one of the first things a fighter pilot would have to learn to deal with.
I think it wasn't just the lack of control; it was the inability to do anything to regain control. My father was a test pilot; there were plenty of times where his airplane did something unexpected and he lost control. But he always had some option for regaining it. (In the last extremity, he could eject--which he actually had to in one test flight. I noticed that the lack of that option in an airliner was mentioned in the article.)
Also, this was a situation where, as the pilot said, he could easily have kept control of the plane, if only the plane had let him. But the plane was listening to the computers instead of him. To me, if you're going to have highly trained humans in the cockpit, it doesn't make sense not to give them a last-dicth way of telling the airplane to stop listening to the computers and start listening to them.
> there were plenty of times where his airplane did
> something unexpected and he lost control. But he always
> had some option for regaining it. (In the last extremity,
> he could eject [....])
But that's not really a lack of control. In those cases you're merely being challenged to regain control of the aircraft. You just need to fight harder, think smarter, or exit. In any event you still have control (or at least a sense of control) over your life.
I understand why this issue was so unnerving for the pilot. Heck, any passenger could sympathize: it's why flying can be so scary--total and complete lack of control; little to any knowledge about what's happening and why; you're completely at the mercy of somebody else, or nothing at all.
So, yeah, I get it. I was just thinking that of all sorts of pilots, a fighter pilot would be the last to be unnerved by losing control; unnerved to the point of not wanting to fly anymore. a) Fighter jets are super powerful and super sophisticated and when something goes wrong there may not even be any time to regain control no matter your training or experience; you're always flying at that envelope where the unexpected can and often does happen, so I just assumed you invariably accept that you're flipping a coin every time you take-off. b) I presume combat is one of those things where you either resolve yourself to a lack of control or realize you're not able to cope and move on to something else (if you can, and assuming you can move on emotionally). But I guess I shouldn't presume a modern fighter pilot (esp. from the 1980s) to have experienced the same sort of peril as someone on the ground during a war.
That said, I'm not trying to suggest he lost his mind or something. He responded appropriately in the moment. He was able to let his training and experience dictate his responses. He consciously understands that he was unnerved after the fact because of that lack of control, as opposed to not understanding those feelings and fears. I'm just surprised that those feelings (or at least their severity) were novel to him and changed his perception of flying, not that he was unnerved, per se.
Not in the sense that the pilot had lack of control of the airliner in this incident, yes. That's my point.
> I presume combat is one of those things where you resolve yourself to a lack of control or learn you're not able to cope.
Lack of control to a certain extent, yes. No matter how good a pilot you are, you can still get shot down. (My dad flew in Vietnam before he became a test pilot, and was shot down once. Luckily, he was recovered.) But you can still fly your own airplane--often even if it gets hit. (My dad got part of his right wing shot off during one mission, but he still was able to make it back to the carrier.)
I think the reason this incident was so unnerving to the pilot was the lack of control over the one thing pilots are supposed to always have control over: that when they move the stick or the rudder, something happens.
I think it wasn't just the lack of control; it was the inability to do anything to regain control. My father was a test pilot; there were plenty of times where his airplane did something unexpected and he lost control. But he always had some option for regaining it. (In the last extremity, he could eject--which he actually had to in one test flight. I noticed that the lack of that option in an airliner was mentioned in the article.)
Also, this was a situation where, as the pilot said, he could easily have kept control of the plane, if only the plane had let him. But the plane was listening to the computers instead of him. To me, if you're going to have highly trained humans in the cockpit, it doesn't make sense not to give them a last-dicth way of telling the airplane to stop listening to the computers and start listening to them.