Passenger jet pilots: Coping with stress....

[C]

In that case what would you do? Risk an emergency forced landing with no power or a possibly hazardous landing in severe weather conditions at a fully equipped airport while the aircraft was still functioning perfectly? The decision is yours & you have to make it now.

If in doubt, divert, and make the decision earlier rather than later...

To put it in perspective, we use diversion fuels, which mean if you divert from base (for example in the circuit), you can divert to to a nominated diversion (as weather permits/dictates - on a good day that may be 10 minutes away, on a bad day it could be in the far north of Scotland), and still land there with you minimum allowable fuel load. If you havent landed and you go below the diversion fuel, you divert. Then if the aircraft in front of you has a mishap on landing (for example), you are not "screwed" yourself.

[beefhole]

The main reason for the miscommunication involved was that the pilot only spoke Spanish-he wasn't very good at English, and the F/O handled all communications.  The pilot relayed what he wanted to say in Spanish to the F/O, who then would contact ATC.

The pilot wanted to declare a fuel emergency, but the F/O kept requesting "priority, fuel low" which does not mean the same thing.

If in doubt, divert, and make the decision earlier rather than later...

This is, of course, the ideal situation.  But if we think in terms of aeronautical decision making under their conditions, it's not really applicable here, as it wasn't an option for them.  They were already knee deep in it.  Had to go with what they had, and a poorly executed ILS approach resulting in a go-around took up the rest of the fuel.

[C]

[quote]This is, of course, the ideal situation.

[beefhole]

Right Charlie, of course.  I meant that if we were speculating on what we would do in their situation at that exact time, you couldn't really consider what they should've done, only the options you had.  Naturally, as you say, they shouldnt've been there in the first place but saying that doesn't help much when you're already there

[C]

[quote]Right Charlie, of course.

[Nexus]

Their alternate airport was even further more north than JFK.
also, the 707's autopilot was INOP so the pilot handflew the aircraft the whole route...this is of course

[congo]

paintball and human lives are in the same league

 You obviously don't take your paintball very seriously Nexus.

[Hagar]

Back to Fozzer's original question. How do airline pilots cope with the stress & responsibility of their job? This would depend on what you call stress. My job could be very stressful at times with a great deal of responsibilty attached to it. If I'd made a mistake it's possible that

[beefhole]

And beefhole, paintball and human lives are in the same league  ;D

In terms of making decisions under high stress/combat situations, yes, it is.

Since I'm a low time pilot I wouldn't be as qualified to answer your question Doug, but it would appear to me as though after a lot of time behind the wheel it isn't stressful anymore.  They're not making life/death decisions every flight, not even every month, sometimes not even every year. (and yet I only have 40 hours and have already nearly died three times )

They're basically doing the same things again and again and again.  In that sense, the job is not that stressful.  For the most part, every flight is just another day at the office.

[Nexus]

If those words came from a Marine or any man who has served with the army and faced the drama of life and death...I would've believed them.

But you're just playing a game, which is lightyears away from what the crew had to deal with.

It's like those counter-strike fanatics who thinks they'd be a perfect fit as a SWAT member.

[Nexus]

[quote]

[beefhole]

But flying day in and day out in commops isn't anything like the "drama of life and death."  If you do anything enough, it becomes just, I dunno, "regular."  Flying a 767 isn't really equatable to fighting a war on the front lines.

Actually come to think of it I'm not 100% sure what you were refering to, could you clarify?  If you were refering to paintball, I didn't say paintball was like war-I said decison making is decision making is decision making.

[Nexus]

[quote]But flying day in and day out in commops isn't anything like the "drama of life and death."

[beefhole]

I think we're proving different points here

[C]

How do airline pilots cope with the stress & responsibility of their job?

I think its called spending lots of hours in the simulator practicing emergencies!