NeiMD
Machinbird,
I haven't studied it, but I have given it a speed read. Thanks Evelyn Wood.
I might not be on the same page as you are relative to fear on the flight deck of AF447.
The thrust of the book after a quick look is that "fight or flight" is deep within our DNA, a relic of the survival default when facing the "saber tooth tiger". Its prescription is to "blunt" the reflex, since there are no longer "saber tooth tigers" challenging our survival, and there are ways to relax and reason around the "sub saber tooth" realm of modern challenges.....
So what do flight crew have to deal with that is actually a "saber tooth moment"?
Asseline knew he was going to crash into the trees, he didn't lose it, he crashed, and survived.
Haynes lost his vertical Stabiliser along with his number two fan. He not only didn't panic, he enlisted help to make a certain crash survivable. They found a dead heading Captain, and had him lie down and work the "steering" (differential thrust, manual.)
Perpignan? Captain knew they were gone, but he kept pulling the stick, pissed off he couldn't get more "g".
Sullenberger? Amazing. So where do we look for what you diagnose as panic?
Colgan. Captain heard a Stall Warn, because the bug was not reset after De-Ice was switched off, a faulty and premature alert.
He lost it, though he had a good twenty knots to lose before the actual Stall. He pulled, because his training was to "lose minimum altitude" at Approach to Stall. When that ate up his margin, the stick pusher volunteered to help, but he kept pulling, likely forgetting the pusher was the good knight, ready to save them.
That qualifies as panic that killed.
I don't see panic on AF 447, nor do I see evidence of flee or fight, a sub set of panic. I see anxiety, lack of confidence, confusion.... All things that can be overcome if the level of training and personal development is sufficient.
I would like to recommend a book by a friend of mine, Sylvia LaFair.
"Pattern Aware"
We can learn to trust our calm and qualified self. The pilot is a computer, well in advance of any Valley branded mother board.
Making best use of the equipment is what flying requires. Pilots have skills that are impossible to reproduce in any computer, abstract thought, intuitive problem solving, and very nearly the kind of calm detachment that comes with the actual computers only advantage, emotionless RAM.