{"id":19533,"date":"2022-08-25T11:45:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T15:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=19533"},"modified":"2024-03-13T07:21:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T11:21:12","slug":"the-flight-of-fright-tales-of-startle-and-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/the-flight-of-fright-tales-of-startle-and-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"The Flight of Fright: Tales of Startle and Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

We may have brought this up before<\/a>. I think we referred to it as “that old chestnut”<\/em>, and talked about how the lack of currency (a lot of folk were heading back to the cockpit after big periods of Covid-no-flying) made it a big threat to think on.<\/p>\n

But it turns out lack of flying isn’t the only issue. In fact, Startle and Surprise are a bit less “old chestnut”<\/em> and a lot more “giant conkers still encased in their spiny suits, falling on pilots\u2019 head from 40,000 feet”<\/em>. They can affect anyone, and regardless of experience or currency, can be hard to deal with.<\/p>\n

So we thought we\u2019d take another look, and a slightly more personal <\/i>look, to see if that might help folk be less, well, startled when something startles them, (or surprised by something surprising).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all in your head.<\/h4>\n

It really is, which means reading about the Science of Amygdala<\/em> and the Theory of \u2018fight and flight\u2019<\/em> is great, but it probably won\u2019t actually change your <\/i>reaction<\/strong>. At least, not the one that counts. You may say\u00a0\u201coh, so that\u2019s why my brain did that!\u201d<\/i> several hours afterwards when the adrenalin has worn off, but in the heat of the moment?<\/p>\n

Knowing the theory probably won\u2019t help.<\/h4>\n

If you want to know how to not react the ‘wrong’ way to Startle or Surprise, then you need to\u00a0think about how you do currently react <\/strong>– analyse those past events and what your brain did during them – because once you understand and are aware of that, then you can start to think about how to control it a little more.<\/p>\n

A very wise lady wrote an interesting thing of this for the RAeS magazine<\/a>. She pointed out that one of the big issues with training for Startle & Surprise is the fact that you can\u2019t really do it that effectively in a simulator.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n