What is Get-There-itis?
Get-There-itis or Get-Home-itis is a word entirely related to aviation. Specifically, this word focuses on the pilots and mainly their decision making skills. Let us understand this word in an easy way.
Normally, in a work or professional area, we are given certain tasks to do. Sometimes, we tend to do these tasks quicker in a hurry due to several reasons. These reasons include time limit, pressure, and several other factors. While doing anything in a hurry, we usually forget about important things in the side and continue working towards our goal. This condition where we do not think about important things in the side is called Get-There-itis. Learn how hurries cause accidents from this post here.
Get-There-itis or Get-Home-itis is not restricted alone to only aviation and pilots. This condition probably exists among anyone working in a professional environment. This condition restricts a person's ability to think about side factors affecting their goal. These side factors affect a person's work either by helping it or making it dangerous. This post specifically talks about Get-There-itis and its effects.
Get-There-itis in Aviation:
Whenever talking about Get-There-itis in aviation, the condition is mainly common during the most critical phases of a flight, which are take-offs and landings. These phases of the flight demand the entire concentration of the pilots and their complete decision making capacity. During take-offs, the PM (Pilot Monitoring) keeps a close watch on the performance of the engines and other instruments. The PF (Pilot Flying) is also equally concentrated with his hands on the thrust levers, ready at any time to stop the plane, if anything goes wrong before the V1 speed. (V1 speed is the maximum speed after which the take-off cannot be aborted.)
The same is the case during landings. Actually, landings are even more trickier than take-offs. This is mainly due to bad weather, runway interference, birds, etc. Pilots are engaged and fully concentrated to act at any moment to perform a go-around due to any disturbance. As we talked about earlier, Get-There-itis can cause pilots to forget about these side factors which are dangerous and commit to performing their goal, which is a take-off, landing, or any other.
Causes of Get-There-itis:
There are a lot of causes of Get-There-itis. This is very common among new pilots who are undergoing their training. With constant training, pilots are taught to relieve from Get-There-itis. Get-There-itis is also common among experienced pilots who mostly do long-haul flights. Pilots who do long-haul flights have very few take-offs and landings as a single flight performed by them takes a long time. There are time limits for how much pilots can stay in the air for a week. Long-haul pilots mostly have successful take-offs and landings (in the first try) due to their fewer flights.
According to latest reports, an average long-haul pilots does one go-around for every 5-10 years. With reference to this data, we can say that long-haul pilots also become prone to Get-There-itis. Get-There-itis among long-haul pilots can easily be resolved by constant training in between in simulators. These additional training helps pilots increase their situational awareness and broader concentration during the actual flight.
Ways to resolve Get-There-itis:
As there is a cure to almost every disease, Get-There-itis can also be cured. The FAA also knew about this factor. With increased concentration of pilots not only on the goal, but also on other side factors, pilots can get relief from Get-There-itis. Get-There-itis is talked about only during landings. Always remember:
You can always go-around.
Get-There-itis in daily life:
Whether it be in a professional environment, house, or school, Get-There-itis is fairly common among all. After reading through this post, you also might have understood the problems it poses and possible disasters. Apart from focus on the final goal, be sure to always check for any interventions or possible threats. Pre-planning, briefing, and analyzing also helps a lot.
This is the only possible cure for Get-There-itis.
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