“No matter what happens, remember, fly the airplane.”
– Flight instructor to 16-year old Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, III
The movie “Sully” opened on September 9, and Wednesday night Mrs. H and I, along with the younger two of The Three saw the film. It’s really good.
It’s good because Tom Hanks is the star. It’s good because the story is compelling. It’s good because it tells us “the rest of the story.” And it’s also good because of the lessons it teaches us about the value of practice, preparation, remaining calm and — most importantly — trusting our well-developed instincts.
When Sullenberger (captain of US Airways Flight #1549, which he landed safely in the Hudson River after losing both engines after striking a flock of geese — which is not like losing all sense of musical integrity to 1980’s band “A Flock of Seagulls” — but I digress…) was 16, he took his first flying lesson, and at about the time he began solo flight, his instructor told him, “No matter what happens, remember, fly the airplane.” There are 154 people (plus Captain “Sully”) who lived on that January morning 7 1/2 years ago because even when something unprecedented happened, Sully flew the airplane.
Deals jump the rails. Co-workers disappoint us. Bosses give flawed or incomplete instruction. Clients are late to meetings, miss them completely, or cancel them at the last minute. In exactly none of those scenarios do 155 lives hang in the balance. In exactly all of those scenarios are we called upon to metaphorically “fly the airplane.”
Calm, measured, well-planed and instinctively — we have to fly on. It will make a difference, every time.
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