Risk Management At Work!

What's amazing to me is not only was even the best of pilots able to land a jumbo jet on the Hudson River yesterday without losing a single passenger and keeping the plane basically intact, but that such crises don't happen more often in the hectic, high-stressed commercial aviation industry. It's testimony to the strength of the field's risk management skills that such horrific accident scenarios are actually so rare!

We know that aviation is regulated, and that standard operating procedures impose numerous safety checks and redudancies to keep fliers as safe as possible.

But anyone who has traveled through a big-city airport recently knows how frantic life can be, as jets zoom in for landings and takeoffs every minute or so. And you see how quickly planes are cleaned and refueled after unloading their human cargo and baggage to get off the ground again as soon as possible.

Plus the commercial air fleets of most U.S. airlines are getting on in years, yet they are maintained in pretty much tip-top shape.

Training is obviously emphasized, but how much can a flight simulator really prepare a pilot to actually ditch a plane in water–let alone along the Manhattan coast! These are some amazingly talented people whose skills are being taken for granted, especially with air travel these days feeling like a trip through the Port Authority Bus Terminal, rather than the classy, comfortable and even thrilling experience commercial flight used to be.

The fact that air traffic is so incredibly safe is testimony to sound risk management and loss control at work.

I'm a nervous flier–especially during turbulence–but I keep myself calm by repeating the mantra that I'm far safer on any commercial jet than I was in the taxi that took me to the airport.

Yesterday's amazing emergency landing in the Hudson, just a short distance from my Hoboken office, stands out for its rarity, thank goodness.

Let's hope with all the cost pressures the airlines are under–first when fuel costs soared, and now with the recession cutting down on business and vacation travel–that risk management budgets are spared. Our lives literally depend on it.

I'll tell you one thing, I'm going to pay more attention the next time the flight attendant goes into their standard pitch about how to access and use that lifevest!