Last week was all about practice. First, I deliberately flew to Portland in low-visibility weather, to practice navigating without outside references — and flying in the clouds is absolute MAGIC.
After that, I spent an hour in a simulator, to practice a broad range of scenarios and conditions, including some pretty scary ones: Landing in near-zero visibility; crazy crosswinds, and quick reactions at high speeds and low altitudes.
It was, at times, a little stressful… but that's the point.
By practicing failure (or the scenarios that could easily lead to bad situations), we create some familiarity with them. Later, if and when we find ourselves in similar situations in real life, we'll feel less surprised and more prepared to deal with them properly.
"Scenario-based training" (SBT) is a valuable tool in flight training, and we can definitely learn from this in work and life, too. Instead of avoiding the subjects of worst-case scenarios, visualize them; talk through them; work on them. By facing them directly, we've already begun the work of overcoming them.
