MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

MAYDAY

MAYDAY

MAYDAY

It’s the one word a pilot never wants to broadcast, because it’s as close to death a pilot never wants to get.

It’s an inconvenient and unwelcome acknowledgement by the aircraft pilot indicating something is very wrong, and an imminent life-threatening emergency exists.

PULL UP

PULL UP

PULL UP

Just like Sparky the talking train, issuing a “right front wheel, right front wheel, right front wheel” distress call to his conductor, a “PULL UP” is an aircraft’s internal warning mechanism stating the ground is getting dangerously close, and disaster is only moments away if swift action isn’t taken.

BRACE FOR IMPACT

BRACE

BRACE

BRACE

Not really the last 3 words you ever wanna hear, right?

IMPACT

God only knows what comes next ...

The outcome of any aircraft emergency MAYDAY is determined by information the pilot receives during the emergency because the pilot is desperately seeking any information and means necessary to keep the aircraft at altitude, in the air.

Why?

It’s the safest place for any aircraft because that’s where they’re designed to perform while preserving the lives of those on board.

Idle aircraft on the ground are vulnerable to all sorts of random events and risk like fire, inclement weather like tornados, hail, ice and lightening, along with other variables such as airport vehicle accidents along with equipment and debris blown around by the wind etc …

When an aircraft loses power in the air, it’s possible to glide to the ground and land safely, should a runway capable of accommodating the size of the aircraft exist close by.

The next best alternative might be a water landing, as successfully demonstrated by Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, whose A320 suffered flame outs in both port and starboard engines as a result of bird strike, taking off from La Guardia, NY a few years ago.

But … when an aircraft loses a wing, or its tail or a vital fuselage component, it plummets from the sky and hits the ground at terminal velocity, killing everybody on board.

Because that’s the law of gravity, of which there is no escape.

There are many components that contribute to keeping an aircraft in the air, but there’s none more important than what gifts an aircraft its altitude.

It’s wings.

The wings of an aircraft are designed to provide lift, and together with the help of huge turbo fan jet engines, or a bladed prop, enable the aircraft to get altitude and remain there, giving gravity the bird.

How high it flies is pre-determined in the flight plan, and officially filed as a document of record confirming every detail of how the aircraft will safely reach its destination, however tweaks and adjustments are made throughout the flight, to avoid bad weather and turbulence.

They are expected.

Upon reaching the destination, the pilot safely returns the aircraft to the ground, in control and in one piece, all brought about by the contribution of teamwork from pilot and co-pilot, cabin crew, ground crew, including air traffic controllers.

Each of these folks honour the integrity of the aircraft and its journey which in turn, rubber-stamps the safety of all souls on board.

One error can prove fatal.

Pilots do not have the luxury of walking away from an aircraft disaster and examine the error(s) that lead to the crash and take notes for next time.

No, pilots are educated on how and why aircraft disasters occur, thanks to their former colleagues whose mistakes cost their lives, and the lives of their passengers.

Pilots are up on the play and weary of all potential hazards they may face at all times, because anything can happen.

They expect the unexpected and perform the exact playbook they’ve trained for over and over again.

They have safety procedures and inspections in place to warn of faulty parts, fuel contaminants and a multitude of other vital aircraft components that work in unison to keep the aircraft, airborne.

Almost 100% of risk is removed before a passenger steps on board because the ground crew and air crew are responsible for the lives of their passengers, and in many cases, their own. Even the pilot completes a visual inspection of his or her aircraft before heading to the cockpit to initialise prefight checks.

Everything procedure is systemised because it's PROVEN to almost eliminate any chance of disaster. The safety of the aircraft from the moment it pulls away from the gate and pulls up at the gate heavily relies on a commitment to highest integrity, of the highest order.

Low performance integrity endangers passenger and aircraft safety and compromises passenger and aircraft integrity.

High performance integrity almost eliminates risk and safety concerns.

High integrity means the crew and passengers have an assured confidence they’ll take off and land knowing everyone has performed their DUTY at the highest level, because their lives depend on it.

Imagine ...

Imagine if we conducted our business with the same performance integrity as the team who contributes to the safety of an aircraft and all souls on board.

Imagine if our Government and Governments around the world did the same.

How about you?

Yes, YOU.

Do you demand the highest integrity driven performance of yourself, in serving others?

Do you demand the highest integrity driven performance from your team, colleagues and co-workers in serving clients and customers?

Do those who claim to be your friends honour the same code?

What about your family members?

Family members in particular can yield the lowest integrity score because if you show even the slimmest chance of achieving success, green envy means the green light on sabotaging your popularity and the success you've earned.

Dangerous is the family member "put out" by your rising levels of success because the mindset of a jealous family isn’t mentally evolved or equipped with the tools to acknowledge and deal with your success.

They’re more concerned about looking good by lying to themselves and others over their own shortcomings and what they’re capable of achieving, by throwing you under a bus.

They literally take pleasure when you issue a MAYDAY, and smile while maintaining their own bullshit story, sabotaging your flight and gleefully watch your aircraft crash and burn.

In other words, your safety and well-being is NOT their concern or priority.

Are we not all pilots of our own aircraft, charting our own unique flight paths?

In our own private plane?

We make choices and decisions every day that have the potential to showcase our success or sink us.

To reach new heights or sink us to ugly by new depths.

The day-to-day choices and decisions we make directly impact our experience of life and its potential outcome.

Some of us allow ourselves to be kept in the hangar for life collecting dust, because someone told us we don’t have the skills to fly, let alone take someone else along for the ride, so we never bothered to crank up our prop or wind up our jet engine, and because no maintenance schedule was kept to maintain and upgrade our user interface, we issue ourselves a no confidence vote, in our own no fly zone.

And so I ask you …

Who are the folks in your life who help keep you in the air, by supporting you unconditionally and lifting you up, rather than sitting back and watching you crash and burn?

At work, and at home?

Are they serving you cynicism and sabotage, or showcasing your story and success because you’ve earned their trust and respect through integrity driven behaviour?

The people you’re listening and talking to each day MUST either have an authentic interest PLUS an authentic white-hot desire in wanting to help you achieve what YOU want.

If you’re wondering who they are, they’re the same people who applauded your guts to taxi out to the runway and championed your take-off in anticipation of watching you soar throughout your life.

Because isn’t it true we can mostly see the potential that lies dormant within others, yet we seem to have real trouble with acknowledging and fulfilling our own?

These are the individuals helping to keep you in the air with airflow over our wings, but also let us know when our fuel is almost running dry, because we all know we can’t fly on fumes indefinitely.

This is your air crew.

The folks who passionately monitor your life with interest, helping identify stress fractures, hairline cracks, fuselage damage, fuel quality and bird strikes, day in, day out, because somewhere along the way, you’ve touched, moved or inspired their lives and in doing so, earned enough trust and respect to help get you and keep you airborne.

No aircraft has the inertia to make it off the ground without some kind of fuel, and these fabulous people in your world along with your own persistence and motivation along with a duty of care attitude are the fuel that propels you to the altitude you want to travel and experience.

The higher their integrity and yours, the greater the heights you’ll soar to.

And who are the folks who won’t or don’t, because more than 9 times out of 10, human error is blamed for aircraft disasters.

One person has the potential and the ability to sabotage our aircraft.

One person has the ability and potential to set your aircraft on fire and revel in the flames as they watch it fall from the sky.

When I was a kid, my Dad told me an aircraft is nothing more than 40,000 rivets flying in formation.

Each rivet has a job to do, but each rivet represents risk.

Imagine each of these 40,000 rivets as people in your life you know in some way, shape or form.

That’s a lot of risk.

Today’s aircraft have far fewer rivets holding them together because aircraft design continues to evolve. Moulded and modular components made from Kevlar and/or carbon fibre are lighter, and exponentially stronger than steel, leading to higher performance levels, yielding greater performance integrity, all-the-while, minimising risk.

It's the evolution of flight.

Why, is mankind not evolving?

Wouldn’t it make sense to regularly evaluate our own lives and discover what has the potential to clip our wings, and permanently leave us grounded and out of service?

Wouldn’t it make sense to conduct an exercise in discovering who is helping and who is hindering you from taking flight?

Wouldn’t it make sense to conduct or construct a pre-flight safety regime that almost guarantees you’ll reach any destination you’ve created a flight plan for and those you hold dear?

Because is that not our responsibility?

To do the same for ourselves, our colleagues and co-workers, our friends and our loved ones.

Who stands with you, uncompromising in their integrity, supporting you and your success unreservedly and unconditionally?

Who wants nothing more than for you to chart your course to reach for the stars and shine, and authentically celebrates YOUR awesomeness when you succeed?

And who doesn’t?

And who wants their ocean-going ship, air-ship or starship, sunk by a career or life threatening emergency?

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

Folks, NZ is on fire and falling from the sky.

You know it.

I know it.

Tell me, would you ever put the current NZ Government or any previous NZ Government in charge of your personal aircraft?

Our country's leadership has been void of ANY performance integrity, ever since I can remember, and I was born in '66.

It's time we grounded our political pilots and label them a no-fly zone because they're a danger to themselves, but moreso, the lives of every New Zealander living in our fabulous country.

Every year, they walk away from political in-flight disasters without accountability or ever apologising to those they've impacted because they're all about saving face and looking good.

A long time ago I had an Air New Zealand captain give me the names of several airlines NEVER to fly with, because the pilots and crew from these countries asserted their status and authority by way of cultural hierarchy, rather than team work.

In the air, their teamwork culture was overshadowed by the ingrained social culture and status of their native country, meaning vital information between Captain and his crew was at times ignored, for fear of looking bad and failing at their work.

I assert we ground our politicians immediately and have them undergo performance integrity checks, because I can tell you, a few body checks will reveal all sorts of corruption contained within their flight plans.

We let them taxi from their Beehive hangars out to their political runways and take off without getting clearance, and they revel in dropping political bombs on us all, while pointing the finger of blame on circumstance, while not shouldering any responsibility, whatsoever.

Let's ground the lot of them because if not, we can all put our heads between our legs and kiss our ass’s goodbye.

Ladies and gentlemen ...

Please fasten your seat belts and prepare for take-off.

Cabin crew, arm your door.

Tower, this is NZD Tim Webb Agent Of Change heavy requesting clearance for take-off ... I've got 5 million souls on board seeking safe passage to the rest of their lives ...

Copy NZD TSW, wind out of the South West at 12 knots, and no weather warning in place ... you're cleared for take off ... Runway 23.

Have a safe flight.

Copy that tower.

Out.