The co-pilot lands the airplane

Something occurred to me today which I think is interesting, in that in aviation, if ever there is a task to be performed that is potentially dangerous, the co-pilot is the one who does it. This doesn't seem quite right at first look. Why would the pilot with all her years of experience not do the trickiest jobs and let the (relative) rookie do them instead?

It's not because she is so nice and wants to help the co-pilot gain experience.

The reason is because if the co-pilot is in the process of messing it up, it is much easier for the pilot to jump in and override them than it is for the co-pilot to tell their boss that she is in the process of making a terrible mistake. This social pressure to defer to the senior person has been shown time and time again to cause airplanes to fly into the ground at completely the wrong angle. The wild haired brainiac Malcolm Gladwell talks about it in his most recent book the name of which I forget right now.

The tendency if you want something done quick, maybe something you find easy,  is to do it yourself, however, if you want a good outcome you should get someone else to do it. Not because you then get the peculiar sensation of pointing someone at something, or because it helps them learn, but because they are more likely to do it right.

Comments

[mark palmer]

There is a very good series of chapters on this as you say -backed up by some data in Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.

[Matt Law]

thanks Mark, you are 100% right.

[Hayes Thompson]

Have you read a book called 'Influence'? There's a story about a pilot doing what his General says and crashing the plane as a result. That is all. Carry on.