Are Pilots Control Freaks
By Herb Foreman
Dr. George CohenI was recently having a check up by my cardiologist, Dr. George Cohen, at Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame, Calif. I mentioned to him that when flying in a light plane I would prefer to be in the left seat as PIC (pilot in command) than any of their others as I felt I was a competent pilot and trusted my judgment and expertise over most of the pilots I have flown with. There are a few exceptions such as my friends Butch Pfiefer, Carl Mauck and Walt Ramseur who are retired airline pilots with many thousands of hours in their log books and owners of their own aircraft. Dr. Cohen felt most pilots were “control freaks” and told the following story to illustrate his remark.
From 1967 to 1969, he served as a research medical officer, USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, Biodynamics Branch at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas and was involved in the space program’s experiments in weightlessness. They had two North American F-100 Super Sabre Jets converted to accommodate two seats. The armor was removed and replaced by telemetry equipment to measure breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and more.
Dr. Cohen recalled an incident where a colonel flying the Republic F-105 “Thuderchief” needed a check out in the F-100 Super Sabre. The check pilot was a captain with many hundreds of hours in the F-100. Both pilots were wired to the telemetry equipment contained in the aircraft. The colonel occupied the front seat. As they began their taxi for take off, both pilots had hearts rates of 170 or more. Suddenly, a red light warning of a fire came on in the instrument panel in the front seat.
Immediately, the captain in the rear seat said, “Colonel, I have the plane.” Within seconds, his heart rate dropped to 60. Dr. Cohen felt that having control of the plane made the big difference. In working with other pilots in the program he felt the same way. Pilots want to be in control of their aircraft. He mentioned also, that most pilots did not want to fly planes where the autopilot would take the plane away from them such as the French “Fly by Wire” Air Bus. Again, it was a matter of being in control.
I decided to test this theory a little further. I asked several pilots, with thousands of hours in their logbooks, if they felt the same as Dr. Cohen. Agreement seemed unanimous. Former Air Force pilot Jerry Penn introduced another scenario. He maintained that being in a seat behind the pilot was even worse as it would be difficult to take control should an emergency occur.
I continued to poll pilots that gather for lunch at Sky Kitchen’s center table at the San Carlos Airport but did not find any significant different of opinion than that expressed by Dr. Cohen. “Pilots are control freaks!”
