Some thoughts after a fellow pilot and friend has made a gear up landing.

There are several layers to this.

On the surface, a pilot made a mistake or better: a series of mistakes and the result was a gear up landing.

On a slightly deeper level, we have learned about the human factors that lead to such incidents. A lot has been researched and written on this topic.

Even further beneath the surface we can find another explanation which in my view leads to the next level of human performance studies. Here we transfer knowledge from other fields of science that only recently have found their way back into the focus of humanity.

What makes a person „fail“? What is this power that acts from a hidden position and seemingly is more powerful than all our efforts to succeed?

From my understanding, the reason for this power being stronger than our will is, that our will is normally used on the surface, whereas this power acts from the deeper levels of our being and thus has much higher potential to create.

In my understanding, a „failure“ like this gear up landing is the deeply rooted desire for forgiveness. Our subconscious mind will keep creating situations in which we fail, until we have learned to forgive ourselves. 

So when my friend contemplated wether he is even suitable as a professional pilot, my intuitive answer was „yes!“. 

For several reasons. First of all, he was willing to look for the root cause, as far as his knowledge about the causes allowed. He has the tendency to be very strict with himself and also very self-honest. He has reflected on this incident self critically. This shows me that he is really willing to learn from this.

The most important reason for my „yes“ is, that he is now in a position where he is open to receive a higher truth regarding the above mentioned root causes.

I told him that he can now understand that there is no guilt, and there is no such thing as „unforgiveable“. 

Also we discovered that he expects more from himself than from others, and I told him to stop being so arrogant. We had a good laugh on that and I feel that the message went through.

Then I explained to him (or witnessed myself explaining to him) that on a deeper level this „self-forgiveness“ is his learning task and as soon as he learned this, he will be free from this shit happening to him again.

I feel this is very true and am grateful that these words came to me so clearly and timely to make a difference in the life of a fellow man in despair.