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Maintaining Focus



On November 10th, 2010, Qantas Flight 32 took off from Changi en route to Sydney, Australia with Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny commanding the aircraft. Shortly after takeoff, at just 7,400 feet, disaster struck as one of the engines exploded under the wing. The blast not only completely destroyed the engine, but it sent shards of metal traveling all directions, slicing holes in the hull and the wing of the aircraft. Molten shrapnel from engine tore through the plane, destroying fuel lines, hydraulics and electrical systems. As the plane began hemorrhaging fuel and fluid on top of the loss of electrical power and computer capabilities, the stress to the aircraft began shutting down other ancillary systems and the aircraft quickly lost nearly all functionality.

Bells, alarms and alerts started blaring as one by one, twenty-one of the twenty –two operating systems within the aircraft had either become completely inoperable or irreparably damaged. Co-pilots began relaying errors reported by their computer to de Crespigny but they couldn’t keep up. Things were getting worse faster than they could update their captain. Eventually, de Crespigny had to request that his crew stop giving him updates. Instead of trying to keep up with everything that was going wrong, he asked his co-pilots to let him know what was still operational and functioning. He needed them to focus on what was still working.

The plane was no longer air-worthy, the wing had lost its structural integrity and the aircraft was quickly losing altitude as they made their way to Singapore Changi Airport for an emergency landing. I don’t have room for all the details, but despite being the most extensively damaged Airbus to ever execute a successful landing – even the landing gear and breaks were severely compromised – Captain de Crespigny miraculously brought in the plane safely. Not a single passenger was injured.

In a situation where panic and fear would overwhelm even the most experienced of pilots, Captain de Crespigny was able to remain composed and maintain focus. Why, because he was able to keep up with everything going wrong? No, it was because he was able to intensely focus on what was still going right and fully leveraging everything he had – little as it was – that was still working.

It’s human nature to get caught up in the hurdles, setbacks, bad breaks and everything going wrong. But sometimes, especially when life hits you with a storm, you must ignore everything that’s broken and commit your attention to what is still working. There will always be plenty of failures and malfunctions to steal your attention, but if you can remember to focus on the tools and skills still available, you’ll realize you still have what you need to land the plane.

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