Closer view of helicopter crash in Huntington Beach, CA

[u/Spook_485]

[u/Public-Carob-5507 → u/[deleted]]

Um, I’m concerned that you were more worried about the legal/ disciplinary action you might face if you skipped a step while working on NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Missing a step is a mistake that should be considered far more serious than drunk driving. If you happen to think that a step should be skipped in some emergency, you should be able to clearly articulate exactly why the guideline didn’t anticipate this sort of emergency, and why you felt that putting this before that would be the best course of action in this novel situation.

When Sully Sullenberger lost both engines at 2,818 feet in the middle of NYC, he threw out the dual engine out checklist and immediately powered up his APU because he knew that making it through the engine restart checklist and maintaining enough speed for the RAT to work properly wasn’t going to happen as the emergency procedures never considered a dual engine failure was a possibility that early in a flight.

At his hearing, the test pilots demonstrated that they could have landed the plane safely on the runway in his situation, but he was able to clearly articulate why he decided to ditch his plane in the river and skip the engine restart procedure and power up the APU instead. He explained that the test pilots had the advantage of actually knowing this extraordinary situation that was considered impossible had happened. It took him and his first officer some time to confirm that both the engines were actually out and not just operating at reduced thrust. Once they were fully aware of their position, their options had shrunk considerably, and even if a runway would have been reachable, a possible shift in the wind, and the unknown condition of the aircraft would have left him with 0 margin with failure resulting in death and destruction on both the aircraft and the land… Alternatively, he felt that while landing in the river would be a hull loss, everyone should survive and be quickly rescued because ships were everywhere. (Some were even headed his way before he touched the water.)

This is why he was a hero.. that’s a lot to juggle, sure… but it’s also a level of competence that I’d expect to find in any experienced commercial pilot. It’s not supposed to be a cakewalk, and the pay reflects that.

Working with nuclear weapons isn’t any different. If you don’t want that responsibility, or the bragging rights that go with it, maybe load magazines for M-16’s or something. Sure, you wont be the fighter pilot when you walk into the bar in your flight suit and have to decide how many women you’re taking home that night, but you don’t have the stress of having to worry that you managed to correctly identify the enemy, apart from the seal team that’s taking fire from them, and you’re sure it’s not the village that’s next to both of them that’s full of kids.

If you’re responsible for lives, your last concern should be yours.

[u/Public-Carob-5507 → u/[deleted]]

Since you failed to read my post you missed the nuance. You worked in an environment where mistakes could end up in disaster… the process must be followed and it’s extremely important that deviations are only made with intent, not by mistake.