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The SOAR Library -- Now Open -- Now Free



Articles for you on aviation and flight anxiety at www.fearofflying.com/wordpress/

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Subcontracted Maintenance Appears To Be Associated With Two UAL Runway Excursions



In two separate instances, crossed wires on the anti-skid system caused A320s to veer off the runway after landing when brakes were applied. In the first incident on October 9th, 2007, a UAL A320 veered to the edge of the runway when brakes were applied. A second incident occurred last month in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.



According to the Chicago Tribune (full story at this link) maintenance on the landing gear had recently been done by a subcontractor. This was confirmed by Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell (full story at this link) who said Airbus realized years ago that the anti-skid system could be cross-wired and that Airbus developed a test to prevent the
problem. He said the problem seemed to have been eliminated after
the test was introduced. But, according to McCarthy, some of the maintenance work on the two United jets was done
by airline employees and some was performed by outside contractors.



The Tribune article says, ". . . the braking systems on both United jets likely failed because the tachometers, which measure wheel speed, had been wired backwards . . . during routine maintenance. As a result, the anti-skid system that controlled braking on the inboard wheel was reading the speed of the outboard wheel, and vice versa. When a tire started to skid, the system released pressure on the wrong brake, causing the overstressed tire to shred and the aircraft to pitch sharply off the runway."



When brakes are used gently after landing, the anti-skid system is not activated. The anti-skid system goes into action only when braking is heavy enough to cause a wheel to lock-up. Pilots are trained to press on the brakes as hard as needed to get the braking action desired, and to depend on the anti-skid to protect the tires. If heavy braking causes a wheel to lock-up, the anti-skid automatically releases hydraulic pressure on that individual wheel.



After the wires were reversed during maintenance, the planes operated normally until the first time heavy braking was called for. Then, since the anti-skid system worked backwards - releasing pressure on a wheel which was not locked-up and allowing hydraulic pressure to remain high on the wheel that was locked-up -  the tire that remained locked-up scrubbed against the runway until it failed, which caused the tire to fail, and the plane to veer to the side.



Steve MacFarlane, director of the union that represents United mechanics, claimed United withholds maintenance problems caused by work done by subcontractors instead of its own mechanics. He is quoted as saying, "It really isn't in their interest to share that information. We would use this information to show that the maintenance (by subcontractors) is not as good, the standards are not maintained."



Jim Hall, former chairman of the NTSB, has expressed concern about the FAA. Even when the FAA is doing inspections, they spend most of their time examining paperwork rather than inspecting airliners. Hall says that without the threat of unexpected FAA
inspections, workers may be tempted to cut corners.



The FAA has 3,800 inspectors, a number that has remained relatively flat over the past decade. Congress is currently holding hearings on how the FAA does - and does not - insure airline safety. In my opinion, little if anything will be done until there is a public outcry following a major accident. That, unfortunately, is how politics works.



According to the union representing UAL mechanics,  UAL currently outsources more than 40 percent of its maintenance work to foreign stations. Click to see article. A spokesperson for the airline said the figure for all subcontracting and outsourcing was four percent.



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Competitive Pressures On Airlines



Kevin Mitchell, who heads the Business Travel Coalition, is quoted as saying, "If you talk to retired airline C.E.O.'s, they'll
tell you that in previous cost-cutting environments through the years
there was always one sacred cow: maintenance and safety. Now everything
is on the table and there are no sacred cows." Full article at this link.

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You, Too, Can Fix The Flying Problem Now

Get started with the program that works. SOAR
was established in 1982 because no programs existed which could help
people with moderate to severe difficulties. Even today, no other
program offers help that is effective except for mild difficulties. No
matter how difficult flying is for you, we can help.



Full Length Course



We have the full length SOAR Video Course on 11 DVDs and we have the accelerated FastTrack course. The full length course provides the maximum help possible. More info.

FastTrack



FastTrack is for you if you have a flight coming up soon, even tomorrow! It includes three hours of the most important video clips from the full length course. More FastTrack info.

Get started now. The SOAR FastTrack program can be on your computer's screen in two minutes.

• Fast Track is inexpensive.
  


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• A twenty-minute private session and unlimited group counseling sessions are included.
  
  


• What you pay for Fast Track is 100% transferable to the complete SOAR Course DVD or CD.

iPod Or Other Media Players

Complete a compact (about five hours) version of the SOAR Course on the go. Download it to your computer. Play it on
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Which To Choose

If you are unsure which is best for you, please call me at 877 332-7359 so we can talk it over. You will feel better as soon as you decide to act.

We
are always here to help. As you go through the program, call or email whenever you
have a question or a concern.

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The Videos Worked Wonders



Tom,



Your videos are outstanding!  They have worked wonders.  Thank you. I am a seasoned world traveler but developed this fear a few years back.  I still fly out of necessity but put myself through hell doing it.



Your talks on turbulence and how the planes are maintained really eased my mind.  But the number one thing that helped the most, is that planes don't just fall from the sky.  If they lose both engines, they turn into a glider.  That was it!



I fly tomorrow morning out of Detroit to Albany, with a final destination of Lake Placid, NY.  My nephew is a speed skater and he has the US Nationals there.  Then home on Sunday and back off again on Wednesday from DTW to Denver.



I haven't had any anticipatory anxiety, which I would have normally had tons.  But this morning knowing that there is a big snow storm coming and looking at the Turbulence Forecast for the next 24 hours, knowing we are on a little ERJ jet, a little has crept in.  I am just easing my mind with your words and techniques.  I even wrote a "post it note" that tells me " If you can read this, it's not time to worry".  I hope that helps during the eminent turbulence.  I will just remember the hurricane planes and how much they withstand. 



How does the pilot prepare for mod-severe turbulence that is predicted & does it make it difficult to handle the plane?



Other than that one question, I think I am OK. Thanks for everything that you do.  I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to actually be able to travel for longer than a 2-3 hour flight.  I can't wait to see Europe again, as the last time I was there was when I was 15 and now I am 37.  Yeah!



Thanks again,

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In answer to the question, how do we prepare for mod-severe turbulence; there is really nothing we need to do. The plane is just as happy in turbulence as it is in smooth air.

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Distinguishing Between What Is Feared And Reality



Recently, I've written a few articles on psychic equivalence. Psychic equivalence is experiencing what is in the mind as reality.



Now, one might easily say, "Well, of course -- what is in the mind IS reality, isn't it?" Maybe. But not likely. At best, what we produce internally is not a perfect representation of reality. And, under stress, individuals with some degree of developmental arrest easily blur the distinction between what they fear and what is real. Experiencing what is in here in the mind and what is out there in the world as one and the same is called "psychic equivalence".



The distinction between mental activity and reality can be expressed as, "The map is not the territory." Territory refers to what exists in a certain place in the world: trees, streams, grass, hills, and perhaps buildings and roads. A map is a mental product, some we produce in order to operate in the "territory".



An internal map we produce is not reality but a representation produced by imagination. Using imagination, you can picture yourself under a tree by a stream in the territory. Are you? You can do this while under the tree by the stream -- or you can imagine it while a thousand miles away.



Which is it? If you picture yourself standing under the tree by the stream, is it really happening or is it imagination? How do you know?



The first step in knowing which it is -- imagination of being there or really being there -- is to know imagination exists. The second step is knowing you can imagine things that are not really true. The third step is learning to question the accuracy of your map.



This third step can be difficult; it is all too easy to just accept what is in the mind as factual. Pilots, if they are going to live to a ripe old age, learn to question themselves relentlessly. Often, the process of learning to question ones thinking is a shocking one. I'll tell you about mine.



When in flight training in the Air Force, I was in a two-seat trainer and flying with an instructor. To practice flying based on cockpit instruments -- as a pilot would do when flying in clouds -- I was "under the hood", a sort of tent that the student pilot is placed under so that the student can only see the instruments, and not the earth or the horizon.



I was using the instruments to practice landing in foggy conditions. As I practiced, I thought everything was going well. My instructor asked, "How are you doing?" I said, "Fine." He said, "Are you sure?" I said, "Yes." He said, "OK, I've got the plane; you come out from under the hood. I lifted off the hood. He said not one word. He didn't need to. I looked out and saw I was only twenty feet off the ground, and telephone poles were zipping alongside the plane. I had unknowingly flown the plane below the tops of the telephone poles.



A brush with death like that is very informative to a student pilot. It teaches you that if you are going to live as a pilot, you must always -- without exception -- question each and every thing you believe is true and each and every thing you believe you have done right, and to do so regardless of how certain you are.



In my work with people who are fearful of flying, I have found that -- more than anything else -- they suffer when flying because they are certain about what they believe. They feel some movement in turbulence and believe the plane is plunging hundreds, if not thousands, of feet. Meanwhile, the variation is less than can be read on the altimeter. They fear the plane can't get off the ground, and -- instead of relentlessly questioning their imagination of disaster -- truly believe they are about to perish.



They are victims of psychic equivalence, experiencing the "map" (their imagination) and the "territory" (reality) as one and the same when there is no connection between the two whatsoever.



I thought of psychic equivalency today in regard to the recent disclosure that Hillary Clinton's detailed story about running for cover due to sniper fire turned out to be completely at odds with video of the event. Understandably she has been accused of more than just misspeaking.



In an op-ed published in the New York Times on April 1st, (click to read article) members of Senator Clinton's staff who accompanied her on the trip said they were briefed that danger indeed existed. These staff members, Lissa Muscatine and Melanne Verveer, wrote, "We were worried about sniper fire and were prepared to rush off the tarmac when we landed."



Because of my work with people who are anxious when flying, I know that fear can cause what is imagined to become transformed -- in an individual's mind -- into factual reality. If Clinton intentionally misspoke, that is what politicians do. If she missthought and went -- due to fear -- that is psychic equivalence.



Such an elaborate example of psychic equivalence only happens in individuals who have developmental arrest significant enough to restrict their ability to reflect on their own thinking processes and to restrict their ability to regulate their emotional state. It is disturbing that fear might so easily hijacks a presidential candidate's mind. An intentional dishonest statement is more acceptable, in my view, than psychic equivalence. After all, dishonest statements are a politician's stock and trade. But, psychic equivalence is the last thing I want going on when the red phone rings at  3 AM.



But, back to flying, and what you can do to develop a greater ability to defeat psychic equivalence? There are two types of things you can do. The first is to control emotions. Since psychic equivalence strikes when feelings get intense, using the Strengthening Exercise to keep feelings regulated will help a great deal.



The second is to develop a commitment to question your mind. Whatever you are thinking, come up with an alternate explanation. What I have long suggested is, when you think a noise or a motion on the plane means a certain thing, come up with two alternative meanings. Come up with one that you might think reasonable, or arguable, even if you don't agree with it. And come up with another one that is ridiculous. Coming up with one that is ridiculous helps loosen up the mind, and start "thinking out of the box". That helps disarm psychic equivalence.

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