Two Kinds of Fear

The fear response to an immediate emergency helps us to focus and respond appropriately, but the social fear of asking for help can work against us.

We can take steps to update our brain to help us overcome the negative social fear.
Pilots typically think of fear as the feeling produced by anengine failure right after takeoff, ice rapidly forming on the airframe, or the windshield suddenly covered in engine oil. When events such as these occur, the brain springs into action. Our brain wiring stems from our early ancestors’ need to deal with an attack by a wild animal. The amygdala trips the alarm and the sympathetic nervous system springs into action causing an almost immediate release of adrenalin and cortisol. Heart rate and blood pressure spike, breathing becomes rapid and shallow, the eye pupils dilate, skin becomes pale as blood is diverted to the muscles and organs, muscles tense, and digestion and salivation stop immediately. This response is generally beneficial in an emergency, making the well-trained pilot better able to respond.
The other flavor of fear, the one that can kill us, arisesfrom our human need for social acceptance. When the brain senses a social threat, higher order cortical regions get involved. The Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) is the brain’s “conflict monitor.” The Medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC) is crucial for "mentalizing or thinking about what others are thinking. It evaluates social norms and predicts the long-term consequences of a social mistake. The Temporoparietal Junction (TPJ) helps us understand the perspective of others, allowing us to realize when we have violated a social expectation.
The social threat may be the anticipation of asking for helpsuch as requesting a vector from ATC or declaring an emergency when the situation is deteriorating. We pilots tend to be a proud group. We value our self-image. We are trained and socialized to see ourselves as capable, resilient problem‑solvers,so declaring an emergency can feel like a public confession of incompetence or
poor airmanship. Continuation bias provides a powerful drive to complete the
flight as planned, which competes directly with the decision to admit an
emergency and divert, declare, or land immediately. Declaring an emergency can feel like giving up on the mission rather than practicing good risk management, even when it is clearly the safer choice. We may fear that declaring an emergency will automatically trigger investigations or enforcement action, even though punitive outcomes are rare.
We must do a bit of brain updating to turn the tables onthis fear of asking for help. That updating is done through education and training. Access to some level of flight simulation is extremely helpful, but discussion with a flight instructor or experienced pilot can also be valuable.
Crew Resource Management (CRM) is a key element. the detailsof CRM can be rather involved, but simply said, “USE ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES!”
There is an ample supply of information about Crew Resource Management online, just be sure to use reliable sources.
Scenario Based Training (SBT) can be effective in helpingwith brain updating. SBT, when properly designed, places pilots in situations in which the correct course of action is ambiguous such as deteriorating weather, an unexpected engine indication, or an ill passenger. The training combats a common psychological defense mechanism, denial. It also helps update the brain to admit when a situation is best handled with outside assistance, thus overcoming pilot’s ego of being able to handle any situation.
The fear response triggered by a real and sudden emergencycan give us the performance boost we need to respond correctly and efficiently.
Conversely, the fear of asking for a vector or declaring an emergency can delay
our effective response and result in a bad ending. Study and practice in CRM,
SBT, and a general understanding of how we “squawk human” can help us to be safer pilots.