On July 16, 1999 a single engine Piper Saratoga piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashed into the turbulent waters off the Martha's Vineyard coast. Kennedy and his two passengers, wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, were killed instantly upon impact. The NTSB concluded that Kennedy, "...failed to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night which was a result of spatial disorientation."
Spatial disorientation used to be known as Pilot Vertigo. In extreme cases, a pilot loses awareness of his or her position in reference to surroundings. Senses begin to lie and the natural reaction is to respond to the bad information in ways that only increase the catastrophic nature of the situation. Often the result is a deadly occurrence known as GRAVEYARD SPIRAL.
A ten-year study conducted by the U.S. Air Force concluded that 25 to 30 percent of high-performance aircraft crashes were due to pilot spatial disorientation. Highly trained, competent and experienced pilots, sometimes in perfect weather, but more often in poor conditions, have suffered spatial disorientation and found themselves unwittingly in the Graveyard Spiral. In extreme cases, pilots have crashed state of the art fighter jets into the ocean or ground at over 600 miles per hour while completely unaware of their position relative to the earth.
The phenomenon begins when a pilot banks the aircraft in a turn. At some point in the banked turn (around 20 seconds) the sensation to the pilot is that the plane is level. We have all experienced this to a very minor degree on an airliner. The pilot then level the wings, but the changing sensation feels as if the plane has banked in the opposite direction, when in fact, it is level. Responding to the sensation, the pilot will again bank into the turn. The aircraft dips causing the loss of lift and a nose-down attitude. Seeing the altimeter spinning downward, the pilot's natural response is to pull the nose up in order to pull out of the dive. The result however, is the exact opposite and is often catastrophic. In attempting to pull the nose up, all the pilot accomplishes is an ever tightening spiral with decreased lift and a quicker descent toward the ground.
So enough for the aeronautical lecture (plus, that's all I understand). Here's the bottom line - sometimes your senses will lie to you. Sometimes the information we take in and rely on is incorrect or incomplete. Therefore we must have a horizon ... a compass... something true to which we orient ourselves. It is the only way to keep the wings (of life) level and the attitude true. (Maybe you've heard it said, "your attitude - a flying term for nose up/down orientation - affects your altitude.")
So what does this have to do with success? Everything! To be truly successful, we must be oriented to the right things. Fame, fortune and power are fine things. But they are not the True North of the compass or an accurate Horizon. (Obviously, this is just an opinion, but it is my blog!)
Spatial disorientation used to be known as Pilot Vertigo. In extreme cases, a pilot loses awareness of his or her position in reference to surroundings. Senses begin to lie and the natural reaction is to respond to the bad information in ways that only increase the catastrophic nature of the situation. Often the result is a deadly occurrence known as GRAVEYARD SPIRAL.A ten-year study conducted by the U.S. Air Force concluded that 25 to 30 percent of high-performance aircraft crashes were due to pilot spatial disorientation. Highly trained, competent and experienced pilots, sometimes in perfect weather, but more often in poor conditions, have suffered spatial disorientation and found themselves unwittingly in the Graveyard Spiral. In extreme cases, pilots have crashed state of the art fighter jets into the ocean or ground at over 600 miles per hour while completely unaware of their position relative to the earth.
The phenomenon begins when a pilot banks the aircraft in a turn. At some point in the banked turn (around 20 seconds) the sensation to the pilot is that the plane is level. We have all experienced this to a very minor degree on an airliner. The pilot then level the wings, but the changing sensation feels as if the plane has banked in the opposite direction, when in fact, it is level. Responding to the sensation, the pilot will again bank into the turn. The aircraft dips causing the loss of lift and a nose-down attitude. Seeing the altimeter spinning downward, the pilot's natural response is to pull the nose up in order to pull out of the dive. The result however, is the exact opposite and is often catastrophic. In attempting to pull the nose up, all the pilot accomplishes is an ever tightening spiral with decreased lift and a quicker descent toward the ground.
The key to pulling out of the Graveyard Spiral is to set
focus on the horizon - whether the true horizon or the
instrument horizon which is oriented to the true.
So enough for the aeronautical lecture (plus, that's all I understand). Here's the bottom line - sometimes your senses will lie to you. Sometimes the information we take in and rely on is incorrect or incomplete. Therefore we must have a horizon ... a compass... something true to which we orient ourselves. It is the only way to keep the wings (of life) level and the attitude true. (Maybe you've heard it said, "your attitude - a flying term for nose up/down orientation - affects your altitude.")
So what does this have to do with success? Everything! To be truly successful, we must be oriented to the right things. Fame, fortune and power are fine things. But they are not the True North of the compass or an accurate Horizon. (Obviously, this is just an opinion, but it is my blog!)
If our reference points are off; if we think we are flying right-side-up, but instead, are all the time upside-down;
we are destined for failure.
So I'm going to again leave this post mid-thought; and with an invitation (as many of you know, I used to be a preacher... but I won't take an offering.) I invite you to take a good look at the horizon... Are you level to it? Take a look at your life's compass... is your life heading to true north? Because only when the wings are level and the course is set to what is true will any of us find REAL SUCCESS.
For now...
D
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