In his introductory speech to the incoming class of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School in the movie Top Gun, Lieutenant Commander Rick Heatherly (callsign “Jester”) explains that during the Korean War, the Navy shot down 12 enemy aircraft for every one that the Navy had shot down. He further explains that during the Vietnam War, the shoot down ratio fell to three-to-one because pilots had “become dependent upon missiles (because) they’ve lost some of their dogfighting skills.” Thanks to the creation of the school, also known as “Top Gun,” the shoot down ration at the end of the Vietnam War was back up to 12-to-1.
Author’s Note: shout out to Top Gun on the movie’s 40th birthday this weekend.
During my flying days many, many, man years ago, part of the preflight brief included a section on “Emergencies.” This portion of the brief ran the gauntlet of discussion on any issues on the ground, during takeoff, en route, etc. One item we always briefed were the “Lost Comm” procedures. In other words, what were we going to do if we lost the ability to communicate with folks on the ground? The answer was basically to remain predictable by flying our flight planned route, continue to communicate out in case someone could hear us, and follow standard procedures for landing with no communications which involved looking for light signals at the airfield.
TECHNOLOGY VS BASIC FLYING SKILLS
The growth of technology is only accelerating. Cell phones, artificial intelligence, the expansive internet, the Global Positioning System, and the list goes on. Discussions of technology are often parallel ideas because there can be both benefits and drawbacks. In aviation, this is a constant topic of discussion.
The tragic loss over the Atlantic Ocean of Air France Flight 447 in 2009 showed that a crew of experienced aviators could become overwhelmed by conflicting information that prevented them from exercising basic airmanship. This is an exceptional explanation of what happened. Similarly, the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in San Francisco in 2013 was due to the lack of airspeed monitoring on final approach – the airplane was too slow and too low to make a safe landing.
There have been other incidents where either the technology was not as helpful as advertised or that occurred despite the technology meant to help. During the “Miracle on the Hudson,” and despite the crew’s extraordinary effort to save the aircraft, Captain Sullenberger stated that the flight control technology actually worked somewhat against his ability (41:00 of the video) to make the best possible landing on the Hudson River. Just the same, the Runway Safety Program remains one of the highest safety priorities for the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2025, there were just under 1,500 events of pilots or ground crews entering the active runway without permission, an average of four incidents per day.
SO…WHAT DO WE DO?
First, a quick question. Can your organization function without the internet? It may be a minor inconvenience or it may be highly disruptive, but either way, organizations should be able to carry out essential functions in a technology-degraded environment.
If the goal is to be able to function in a technology-degraded environment, organizations should train and educate their teams on exactly what that will look like and exactly what will happen when the technology downgrades or goes away completely. It may be that business has to stop for time, but not all organizations or industries have that luxury. Do you have that program in place?
Author’s Note: shout out to Season 2 of The Pitt (spoiler alert!!!) for showing health care operations during an internet outage.
Finally, what technology oversight or review tools do you have in place to audit the technology and/or continuously improve it? In some cases, does the implemented technology need to be discarded or replaced wholesale? This can be an extreme challenge since technology procurement can be lengthy and detailed. Updates or changes can be just as lengthy and detailed.
As aviators, we used to get pelted with scenarios – usually in the simulator – involving degraded technology. However, we also had the responsibility to know everything about every piece of technology on the aircraft so that in case of a technology problem we could formulate a game plan. Knowing what you have, knowing what to do when what you have does not work like you expect, and knowing how to carry on when all does not work as planned/advertised is essential to preventing basic work skills from withering.
Nurse Dana approves…
More to follow…
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